A quick-thinking police officer who had previously served in the British Army has been praised for saving a man's life in Stevenage.

PC Jonny Senior, 28, attended a call from a concerned woman in Stevenage, reporting that her partner was not breathing.

PC Senior was the first officer on scene and when he arrived he established that an elderly man had a significant arterial bleed to his arm, where his dialysis machine had accidentally dislodged.

PC Senior applied a tourniquet to the patient's arm to stem the bleeding, he also applied a bandage to stop the bleeding, all the while giving reassurance to the patient and his family.

When the ambulance crew arrived, they said he had saved the man's life.

PC Senior, who has been awarded a 'Good Work Minute' by Local Policing Command Superintendent Nev Hanks, said: "I wasn't expecting anything apart from maybe a pat on the back and a good feeling at the end of the day. The family were very thankful to me and the team."

He said his police and Army first aid training had given him the confidence to give an immediate response.

"It was lucky I was there covering Stevenage as I'm usually in East Herts," explained the former soldier, who served five and half years as a corporal in the British Army before joining the constabulary 11 months ago.

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"I didn't know what I was walking in to, I was told he wasn't breathing, but my main priority was the massive haemorrhage.

"I gloved up, applied a clotting gauze to the wound, a tourniquet to his upper arm and a bandage once the bleeding was stemmed. I'd been there four or five minutes when the ambulance crew arrived, I updated them and they gave me a thumbs up and said I'd saved his life. Thankfully he was stable and talking when I left them to it."

East Herts Chief Inspector Stuart Orton said: "We are all incredibly proud of Jonny.

"He remained calm under pressure, gave text book emergency first aid, and thanks to his quick-thinking when the paramedics took over the patient's care, they said he had saved the man's life.

"First aid training is a vital part of our student officers' training and this incident demonstrated why it is so vital."