Four teenagers from Ramsgate were special guests at Kent Police East Kent area commander’s awards in Broadstairs, where they have been honoured for their actions.

Year 11 Clarendon House pupils Beckie Cooper, Jordan Fleet, Kerry Mills and Hannah Wendholt were on their way to school together when they came across a distressed 19-year-old man with mental health difficulties.

Recognising his vulnerability, they got talking to him and encouraged him to accompany them to Margate Police Station for help in reuniting him with his carers.

The incident happened last March.

Chief Supt John Molloy, who presented them with their certificates in front of an audience which included their families, said: “Their timely intervention in this case prevented significant harm to the individual in question together with sparing undue concern and distress to the parents and carers as well as what would have led to the deployment of significant police resources.

“They have displayed compassion, common sense and good citizenship which is a credit to them, their families and their school and serves as a positive example to the wider community.”

A number of officers, police staff and members of the public also received awards at the event at the Pavilion. They included:

Sgt Lara Connor, who on March 30 this year coaxed a woman away from a fourth floor flat window in Third Avenue in Cliftonville. She prevented her from harming herself with razor blades and got her to hospital where she received treatment and support.

PC Leanne Aston and PC Sean Baker, who just after 7am on July 21, reached a woman who was threatening to take her own life as she walked into the sea at St Mildred’s Bay at Westgate. They were supported by PC Neil Holladay and PC Darren Reed, who are also RNLI members. They launched the lifeboat and got to the location to rescue the woman and take her back to the station where there was a waiting ambulance. The calm professionalism and innovation was the difference between the woman making a full recovery and her not surviving the incident.

Father and sons Edward, Ben and Chris Mayo assisted police when they witnessed youths pushing over a garden wall in Broadstairs in November last year. One of the suspects was cautioned and one received a final warning.

Insp Simon Collins, PC Richard Bailey, PC Leanne Aston and PC Ian Vanstone and PC Nigel Cook and police dog Gadget acted as a team on December 13, 2006, after the control centre received a call from a man saying he was going to kill someone.

CCTV operators located him outside St Paul’s Church in Northdown Road in Margate.

He had a large kitchen knife. Officers used incapacitant spray and an asp and managed to detain him, despite him refusing to drop the knife and threatening the team with it.

He was suffering from mental health issues, was subsequently charged with an offence of affray and received a 12-month suspended prison sentence.

PCSOs Ross Meek and Nick Underwood, who went to check on the welfare of PC Mike Tovell, who was not responding to his radio after attending a call to a burglary in progress in Northdown Road in July this year. They administered first aid, requested further assistance and preserved the scene. PCTovell is recovering from his injuries and investigations continue into the incident.

Also receiving an award was The Rev Donald Lugg, for his work over the past 11 years as chaplain for police in East Kent.