Dorset Man Presented With Bravery Award

A Dorset man who helped rescue five children from a burning house in Abbotsbury has been awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal.

Matthew Robinson, who together with his family rescued five children from a burning house when he was 18, was awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal.

Mr Robinson, 20, heard Tracee Barlow screaming for help as her children were trapped as their home, in Abbotsbury near Weymouth went up in flames in January 2010.

The hero's mother, Jackie Robinson, got a ladder and helped three of the children escape. He then went inside the house to gather Ms Barlow's son Jack, 11, and daughter Chantelle, five, before passing them out of the window to his father, Roy.

After receiving the medal, Mr Robinson said: ''It is good to know that the Queen realises that people in our own country do stuff that is heroic as well.''

Asked what it is like to be a hero, the mechanic said: ''It feels quite good, I'm not going to lie. I do get the mick taken quite a lot, there's quite a few people who make jokes about it. If I turn up people will be like, 'oh, here's the hero', stuff like that.''