The incident happened outside the Elm Park Hotel in April 2001

Dad-of-four’s bid to find police officer who saved life in Elm Park 12 years ago

Ramzy Alwakeel, Reporter Tuesday, January 29, 2013
4:00 PM

Father-of-four Alan Webb is appealing for help tracking down the police officer who saved his life 12 years ago.

If he finds her, he’ll tell her: “Thanks for giving me the chance to see my twins born.”

Alan, then 39, had intervened after seeing someone being attacked outside the Elm Park Hotel in April 2001. In the chaos, someone threw a broken bottle at him, badly injuring his face.

“I didn’t realise how bad it was – I was just trying to get away,” said the 52-year-old, of Guysfield Drive, Rainham. “A police officer pulled up and asked if I was alright.

“I said I was fine and she told me: ‘No – you’re not.’

“I had blood squirting out the side of my face. She stuck her fingers inside my cheek and held my artery together.

“The ambulance came and then I had a cardiac arrest on the way to hospital, and another on the operating table.

“I lost five pints of blood. The doctor told me the police officer had saved my life.”

Despite the severity of his injury, Alan was out of hospital within a week – which came as a relief, as his wife was pregnant with twins Alfie and Lily, now 11.

“I just want to say thank you to her,” he said. “My twins are coming up to 12 now, but I would never have seen them if it hadn’t been for her.”

Alan, who also has a 19-year-old son and a 27-year-old daughter, said he hadn’t understood at first how bad it could have been.

“I’ve got a great big scar on my face and it affected me for quite a while,” he said.

“But it doesn’t hit you at first. It’s only afterwards you realise what happened.”

If you know the police officer who was on duty near the pub in Elm Park Avenue on the night of April 6, 2001, call the news desk on 020 8477 3903, or e-mail ramzy.alwakeel@archant.co.uk.

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