Female PC's Tackle Armed Robbers

7 April 2010, 09:37 | Updated: 7 April 2010, 09:51

Two police officers have been praised by a judge after tackling armed men during an aggravated burglary in Bournemouth.

PC Kelli Walker and PC Katie Harvey, who were both unarmed, were called to a house on Castle Lane West after they received a disconnected 999 call.

PC Walker said of the incident: "We heard grunting noises coming from the kitchen. We saw a man crouched on the floor, who at first appeared to be naked. He was tied up with cable ties and had a bloody face. There was also a man straddled over the victim pointing a gun at him and Katie went on to disarm the male and then we both arrested the two men.

“'We then became aware of a third male at the front of the property who had a firearm. Then, seconds later, back-up arrived and the third man was arrested on suspicion of aggravated burglary.”

There were three people inside the house - a middle-aged man, a woman and a three year old child. The man was later taken to hospital for treatment to serious facial injuries. The woman and the child were uninjured.

26 year old Aleksey Iskritkiy, 34 year old Robertas Beniulis and 26 year old Edgaras Plosenko were charged with aggravated burglary, firearms and false imprisonment offences.

All three men pleaded guilty to their charges, and were jailed for a total of 20 years between them.

Following sentencing, His Honour Judge Harvey Clark made the following statement:

“This case demonstrates truly outstanding courage by PC Katie Harvey, with the full support of her colleague PC Kelli Walker, both officers acted with initiative, coolness and presence of mind, when entering a house and in particular the kitchen of the Castle Lane West property.

“Both officers deserve the highest commendation for courage in the course of their work as police officers.”