Courage awards for Shropshire community heroes

Community heroes who rushed to the aid of victims of a stabbing in a Shropshire town have been rewarded for their courage at a special ceremony.

Six awards were handed out by High Sheriff of Shropshire Richard Burbidge at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday afternoon after being recommended for the commendations by Judge Robin Onions.

Three members of the public and one police officer were commended for their reactions after 72-year-old Leonard Parton stabbed his ex-wife Ann in the face and neck five times in a frenzied early-afternoon attack in the middle of Church Stretton.

Parton, of Upper Galdeford, Ludlow, also cut his own throat in the incident on May 19 last year, but both he and his wife survived.

And a husband and wife from Telford were also recognised for coming to the aid of a woman who was sexually assaulted in an alley by Slawomir Wilczarski, of King Street, Wellington, in January last year.

Frank and Karen Martin, 54 and 55 years old respectively, were presented with cheques for £250 each after they found the woman in her early 30s after the attack at the rear of St Agathas Close, in Dothill, and took her back to their house to comfort her.

The pair have decided to donate the money to Hope House Hospice and the British Heart Foundation.

In relation to the Church Stretton incident, Emily Johnson, who works at Hillside Pharmacy near where the attack took place, was also presented with a cheque for £250 after she rushed to the aid of Mrs Parton.

Miss Johnson, 30, of Church Stretton, stayed with Mrs Parton following the attack, despite the presence of Parton nearby.

"It was a nice warm day and nothing was going on. All of a sudden, it was like something out of a horror film," she said. "It just never happens in Church Stretton and will hopefully never happen again."

Parton was given an indefinite hospital order under the Mental Health Act after being ruled unfit to plead, while Wilczarski was ordered to serve a minimum of five years and six months and was put on the sexual offenders register.

By Chris Burn