Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Fur Valour
Top award for life-saving heroics of police dog
A POLICE dog nearly knifed to death saving his partner is to receive the animal George Cross – a PDSA Gold Medal.
German shepherd Finn and PC Dave Wardell had cornered a robbery suspect when Finn was knifed twice with a 10in blade.
PC Wardell said: “In a split second I saw the man lunge at Finn. As he pulled away I saw a 10in blade, covered in Finn’s blood.
“The man then lunged at me but Finn, despite being seriously hurt, grabbed hold of the suspect and stopped him landing a fatal blow.
“My hand was cut and Finn’s head sliced open. His grip remained, pulling at the suspect’s leg to stop him from jumping the fence.”
Finn made an amazing recovery from the attack in October 2016 and was back on duty 11 weeks later.
He gets his medal on Sunday at a PDSA event at Cheltenham Racecourse, the first such public award.
P C Ward el l sai d hi s partner saved his life in the attack in Stevenage, Herts.
He added: “I am bursting with pride.
“Finn’s a true gem and embodies everything special about police dogs.”
His canine partner has retired but inspired a Finn’s Law campaign to make it an offence to attack service dogs and horses.
At present thugs face just a criminal damage charge.
David Lloyd, Hertfordshire Police Commissioner, said: “Attacking a police animal shoul d not b e treated the same as damaging a police car.”