Essex Police officer nominated for the National Police Bravery Awards

AN Essex Police officer who doggedly refused to let a criminal get away despite being punched, kicked and bitten by the man who also repeatedly tried to gouge his eye out has been nominated for The National Police Bravery Awards.

Two weeks from today!

The horrifying assault by a former semi-professional boxer left courageous PC Mason Doyle with a gashed head, concussion and a nosebleed. But he showed huge bravery in repeatedly denying the wanted man his escape.

He will now join colleagues from across the country being celebrated at the 2021 National Police Bravery Awards in December.

It was in March 2019, when PC Doyle was helping CID colleagues to bring in a suspected burglar in Tilbury when the wanted man jumped from the first-floor window of his house into a neighbouring garden, dressed only in his boxer shorts.

PC Doyle had positioned himself at the rear of the man’s property and could see him running off into a road before giving chase.

He had to get over fences and a large garden fence to keep up with the man who he eventually found cowering under some bushes.

As PC Doyle began to radio in that he had found the man, the culprit set upon the officer and assaulted him by kicking, punching and biting him. As the pair wrestled, they fell through a brick garden wall and crashed down among the bricks on the ground.

Terrifyingly the man then got two fingers and dug them into PC Doyle’s eye socket in a sickening attempt to gouge his eye out. He also grabbed PC Doyle’s radio, smashing it in the process, meaning the officer could not call for back-up.

The man then attempted to flee over a nearby fence before being pulled back down by PC Doyle. The man again tried to gouge out PC Doyle’s eye before colleagues finally located them and came to assist their colleague.

They rugby tackled the man to the ground to get him under control.

“I don’t like people getting away,” PC Doyle said. “I did my best to make him stay where he was and then go to court.

“I think the incident lasted roughly two or three minutes, but it felt forever. At the time, I didn’t know he was a semi-professional boxer, so he knows how to fight if he wanted to.

“My eye really hurt, but thankfully no damage had been caused. I’ve still got a scar where he bit me on my arm too.”

The offender Zach McCarthy was sentenced to eight months in prison for the attack.

PC Doyle added: “I was surprised to be nominated for the Essex Police Federation Bravery Awards because we’re police officers, we deal with very nasty individuals.

“It was nice to hear I’d been nominated, though, because it’s kind of like a thank you in a way, saying, ‘we appreciate what you’ve done,’ but to me, it’s just one of those things.”

Essex Police Federation Chair Laura Heggie said PC Doyle was a very worthy nomination for The National Police Bravery Awards.

“Mason was very tenacious and wasn’t going to let this clearly violent man get away from him,” she said. “We just don’t like letting the bad guys go.

“Despite his horrible injuries – and having your eye gouged like that must have been terrifying – Mason stuck to the task and got his man off the streets.

“Mason will just say it was part of his job. That what he did was nothing special. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Thank you, Mason; we’re very proud of you.”

The National Police Bravery Awards honour officers from across England and Wales who have performed outstanding acts of bravery while on or off duty.

PC Doyle will join colleagues from across the country at the prestigious 2021 National Police Bravery Awards in December.

The Awards are sponsored by Police Mutual.