Two selfless police officers who teamed up to save a woman's life have won a Thames Valley Police award.

Sgt Keith Morgan, from Reading, and PC Katie Poole, a Bracknell officer, were called out to reports of a woman perched on a bridge over Oxford Road, Reading, in July 2017.

It was clear to them that the woman was contemplating suicide.

PC Poole was already on the scene when Sgt Morgan arrived.

Along with a member of the public, she was risking her safety by holding the woman back to prevent her from jumping.

Sgt Morgan decided that the woman had to be properly restrained and handcuffed her to the railings before calling up some HGVs to park up under the bridge to break her fall in case she wrestled free.

Sgt Morgan also alerted firefighters to the incident, as he realised that the bridge railings may have to be cut away from the bridge with her still attached in order to get her to safety.

The woman was still clearly agitated and was actively trying to break free and throw herself from the high bridge.

All the while PC Poole, who was in real danger of tumbling over the bridge as the woman continued to struggle, kept holding onto her.

At this stage, Sgt Morgan was considering calling up a cherry picker with officers on board to talk directly to the woman, but eventually after 90 minutes PC Poole managed to calm her down and she was brought to safety.

The pair have been awarded a Thames Valley Police Federation Bravery Award for their heroic actions.

Sgt Morgan said: "I think Katie was really brave in her actions in actually grabbing hold of the woman because it could have gone horribly wrong."

He also said he was delighted to have won the award, adding: "I'm near the end of my service now and I’ve never had anything like this."

Thames Valley Police Federation chairman Craig O’Leary said: "This was decision making and incident control of the highest professionalism.

"Police officers have to make split second decisions and know their actions will be judged long after.

"Both PC Poole and Sgt Morgan showed great bravery and presence of mind to prevent a tragedy and a certain death.

“"We are extremely proud of them both."

The pair will attend an awards ceremony in the Thames Valley Policing area on Thursday, February 28, where an overall winner will be announced.

The awards are in association with JRM Mortgage Solutions and the hashtag for the event is #TVPFedBravery.