A WOMAN has been called the ‘bravest person in the UK’ and received two medals for her bravery after protecting a complete stranger in a violent attack.
Abigail Weigold, 27, was awarded a gold medal and a prestigious Binney medal at the National Police Chiefs’ Council Police and Public Bravery Awards.
Abigail, who is originally from Darfield but now lives in Sheffield, was presented with these awards after she stood between an armed man and a group of men who were trying to attack him.
Despite pleas for others nearby to help her, she protected the man on her own for almost 20 minutes, without thought for her own safety.
Abigail, who attended Holgate school where she was head girl, said: “It’s normally a really quiet road so when I heard a commotion I just went out to see what it was. When I went out I saw a man on the floor trapped and surrounded by a group of men who were throwing rocks and whatever they could find at him.”
The man she protected was being attacked by a group of seven males who were armed with large rocks. Abigail, who lived alone at the property at the time did not know any of the men involved.
She said: “I just thought to myself that this man is going to die if I don’t get involved. I thought if I got in the middle they would stop, and I told them to stop but they wouldn’t listen.”
Abigail shouted for other residents who were watching the fracas, to help her but none did. The group continued to injure the man who was wielding a large knife with blood on. The men indicated that the man was responsible for a stabbing so Abigail told them to ‘call the police then, you can’t kill him’.
The injured man ran inside Abigail’s house and opened the door with such force that the police said it had damaged the door’s hinges.
A six-inch rock was hurled through the front window with glass narrowly missing Abigail. The injured man made his way upstairs, bleeding on the carpets and Abigail called the police.
She said: “It got really crazy. I just decided to be really strict with him because he had a knife and I didn’t want to get stabbed.
“I told him he needed to respect me because I was looking after him.”
The man with the knife had been on day release from a psychiatric ward and had previously stabbed people. The district judge imposed a hospital order on the offender for the attack.
Abigail was invited to the awards ceremony which was held in London on Tuesday where she received a gold award and a Binney Medal.
She said: ” When they told me I had won the Binney medal I was in tears. I had heard so many heart breaking and endearing stories during the night that I never thought it would be me.
“They said that it represented the bravest person in the UK.”
The Binney Medal is awarded to the person whose nomination stands out as exceptional above the others.
“The Binney Medal is in remembrance of Sir Ralph Binney, a retired naval captain who died while trying to stop an armed robbery.
The Chief Constable of South Yorkshire Police Stephen Watson, who hosted Tuesday’s ceremony, explained why the awards are so important.
He said: “These courageous acts are a tribute to the spirit and determination demonstrated by the public, often involving decisions made with little or no regard for personal safety. They serve to reinforce Robert Peel’s adage that ‘the police are the public and the public are the police’.
“These annual awards do not exist to encourage people to place themselves in danger, but represent the opportunity to pay tribute to those in the community who consider themselves ordinary people, yet have performed truly extraordinary acts of bravery.”
