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Ex-soldier saved cop from mob

23/ 5/2008

A FORMER soldier from Openshaw has told how he dragged a police officer to safety from a mob of rioting Rangers fans during last Wednesday's football mayhem.

CCTV cameras caught the moment ex-Royal Engineer Tom Bardsley, 23, pulled policeman Mick Regan away from the 20-strong mob, who he says were like ‘a pack of wolves'.

Tom, a restaurant worker, had just left an internet café on Newton Street, in the city centre, when he caught a glimpse of PC Regan's fluorescent jacket on the ground as the gang rained blows on him.

Tom, who was born in Gorton but later moved to Openshaw, has a three-year-old son and ambitions to be a police officer or paramedic, said: "They were like a pack of wolves that hadn't been fed for days. I didn't think he was going to make it. I ran in and I had bottles and things thrown at me, but I didn't care because the adrenalin just took over. I grabbed him (PC Regan) and a bottle smashed on his helmet and went across my face.

"As I ran off with him a policeman must have thought I was a fan and hit me across the back with a baton, but I carried on going. I was dragging him across the floor and I said to him ‘`I'm a British Army medic'. Although I'm not now, it was to let him know he was in safe hands.

"As I was pulling him the fans were trying to drag me off.

"I threw him in a police van and loads of hands were trying to grab me, but I grabbed the van and it screamed off up the street dragging me along. I eventually let go and ran off."

Tom, who has undergone riot training and is a St John Ambulance volunteer, suffered cuts and bruising.

After helping PC Regan, Tom also helped rescuers save a Rangers fan who had fallen into a canal, carried an unconscious man to an ambulance and stopped a police van from being looted.

The have-a-go hero has been applauded by police chiefs for his actions and has been personally thanked by Pc Regan over a beer at Longsight police station.

Tom is now looking into applying to join Greater Manchester Police next year.