A POLICE officer who brought a three-day-old baby back from the brink of death has been awarded one of the country’s top national life-saving honours.

PC Christopher Weir and another officer raced to Sherlock Lea, Hook, on the morning of May 6 last year in response to an emergency call from the baby boy’s parents.

When they arrived they found Scott and Victoria Allibone with their baby who was not breathing and who had turned blue.

PC Weir cleared the airway of the baby, who had not even been named by his parents at that stage of his young life, and began patting his back.

The baby then began to breathe and PC Weir continued monitoring it taking further instructions over the phone from his control room on what he should do.

Now, PC Weir is to receive a Royal Humane Society Resuscitation Certificate for saving the baby’s life and has also won the personal praise of Andrew Chapman, secretary of the society.

As he announced the awards at the Society’s London headquarters last week Mr Chapman said : “Police arrived at the scene in just four minutes from the time the emergency call was received.

“Any longer and the chances of the baby surviving would have been unlikely.

“The parents of this little boy are never going to forget what PC Weir did for them.

“It could so easily have ended up as an incident in which a young life was cut tragically short but instead there was a happy ending thanks to PC Weir.

“He richly deserves the award he is to receive.”

The roots of the Royal Humane Society, of which The Queen is patron and Princess Alexandra its president, stretch back more than two centuries.

It is the premier national body for honouring bravery in the saving of human life.

It was founded in 1774 by medical men, William Hawes and Thomas Cogan. Their primary motive was to promote techniques of resuscitation.

However, as it emerged that numerous people were prepared to put their own lives at risk to save others, the awards scheme evolved, and today a variety of awards are made depending on the bravery involved.

The society also awards non health care professionals who perform a successful resuscitation.