National heroes are rewarded for

THE policeman killed after confronting the Westminster attacker outside Parliament and the heroic passer-by stabbed trying to protect MP Jo Cox have been awarded medals for their bravery.

In a break with tradition, the Queen’s Civilian Gallantry List has been released at the same time as the monarch’s birthday honours.

Police Constable Keith Palmer (pictured), who was stabbed to death by attacker Khalid Masood in March on the forecourt of the Palace of Westminster, is posthumously awarded the George Medal for confronting an armed terrorist to protect others and Parliament.

Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick said she and her colleagues were “immensely proud” of PC Palmer’s bravery.

Paying tribute, she said: “Keith acted that day with no thought for his own safety, intent simply on doing his job and protecting members of the public and Parliament. He paid the ultimate price for his selfless actions.”

Briton Dominic Troulan, an ex-soldier who was working as a civilian in Kenya when terrorists attacked a shopping mall in 2013, is awarded the George Cross for saving lives during the massacre.

Bernard Kenny, who was stabbed in the abdomen as he tried to stop neo-Nazi Thomas Mair attacking Mrs Cox outside her constituency surgery in Yorkshire, receives the George Medal one year