Two brave police officers saved a woman’s life after she tried to kill herself by starting a fire in her home, a court heard.

PC Sarah Lewis-Perkins and PC Gavin Scales were commended by a judge after they rushed into the dense smoke and put out the blaze using a rug and a fire extinguisher.

Judge Julian Smith praised the officers for their swift action. “Their behaviour was in keeping with the highest tradition of the constabulary,” he told Maidstone Crown Court. “I commend their conduct.”

The court heard the depressed 34-year-old woman torched a pile of her clothes at her semi-detached home in Sapho Park, Gravesend, two days before Christmas 2013 after her husband told her he was leaving her to remarry and have children.

When the two officers arrived they could see a glow from inside and smoke billowing out. They broke in and found the woman sitting in a chair in the living room impassively.

The woman admitted arson and was sentenced to eight months imprisonment suspended for a year.

• Photos of both officers were requested from Kent Police.