Abingdon police who tackled Trevor Joyce up for bravery awards

Sgt Mark Allmond and PC Alex Quigley took down schizophrenic Trevor Joyce minutes after he fatally stabbed father-of two Justin Skrebowski on a December morning in 2015.

The officers, who have just been nominated for national Police Bravery Awards and will head to London for a ceremony next month, spoke to the Herald for the first time about their face-off with a killer.

Sgt Allmond, who was a police constable at the time, said: “I don’t think you know what you’ll do until you’re in that situation.

“I just saw something bad going on and I wanted to help and try to deal with it. A lot of people say they wouldn’t have done the same thing but I say 99 per cent of police officers would do the same.

“I know that I don’t ever want to be that close to a killer again.”

The 38-year-old was off-duty at the time, leaving Greggs in Bury Street with his wife and two young daughters when he heard shouting.

When he looked along the road he saw Joyce holding a knife to an elderly man’s throat and threatening to kill him.

Sgt Allmond put down his three-year-old and told his wife to call the police before moving towards Joyce.

He engaged with the killer – not knowing then that Joyce had killed somebody just moments earlier.

The sergeant, whose first thoughts were that he was dealing with a terrorist attack, said: “The number one thing is tactical communications. You talk to somebody and look for your opportunity.

“It’s not like in the movies, I’m not Jackie Chan: I couldn’t give him a roundhouse kick to disarm him. I knew that if I tackled him I would get hurt.

"As he threatened mums with children I just remember thinking ‘please don’t kill a child in front of me’.”

Joyce was holding onto a carving knife and fork he had picked up from Poundland and used to kill Mr Skrebowski.

It looked to Sgt Allmond as though there were two blades, which would make tackling him a potentially fatal move.

The sergeant, who could see blood pooled in the plastic sheath of the knife, pursued Joyce along the High Street, at times getting fearfully close.

He continued: “I was just trying to talk to him, to get him to concentrate on me. I was really close to him.

“They say 21ft can get closed down very quickly, but I knew if he started attacking someone he would have forced my hand.”

Joyce carried on down the street, swiping his blade at people as he walked. At one point he swung the knife in the direction of someone’s face as he rounded the corner.

Many people seemed oblivious to the danger and Sgt Allmond was shouting at members of public to get out the way.

At this point, the Sergeant, who served in Northern Ireland and Afghanistan with the army, pulled out his own phone and tried to call for back-up.

When Joyce reached the Spar in High Street he began approaching people and asking them if he could shake their hand.

Sgt Allmond called out to the knifeman in an attempt to draw attention back on himself.

His plan worked, and Joyce turned and approached the sergeant at speed, causing him to back up onto the road.

As he looked back, PC Alex Quigley arrived on the scene in an unmarked car.

She had picked up the call on her radio while driving around the centre of Abingdon. She knew there had been a stabbing but the information she had was minimal.

The constable said: “I was listening and heard that a male was continuing to walk through the town centre, threatening members of the public. I thought, it’s 11.20am on a Monday – what’s going on?"

Sgt Allmond, who was on the cusp of tackling Joyce, was filled with relief by PC Quigley’s arrival.

But, for a moment, it seemed as though things were about to get much worse for the two officers.

Sgt Allmond said: “There was a moment when he looked both of us up and down. You could see the warning signals.

“I thought ‘we’re in for a fight now’.”

Joyce, in an apparent moment of frustration, flung both weapons in the direction of PC Quigley. They spun towards her but both missed and went under the car.

She pulled her Taser and aimed the red dot at Joyce, telling him to get on the ground.

He slowly got onto his knees. She moved over and ‘assisted’ him to the floor. At this point she, Sgt Allmond and a member of the public – delivery driver Ross Overton – piled on top of him and Joyce was placed under arrest.

PC Quigley said: “You don’t get the chance to think of a plan of action. You have to act very quickly.

“You just go and get stuck in and sit back and reflect afterwards. I just knew that if I didn’t do something somebody could be seriously hurt.

“It could have gone horribly wrong. My exact words were ‘I could have died today’. I didn’t think of it at the time – but I wouldn’t change it."

Both officers said they were humbled to be nominated for the national bravery award – but said they were simply doing their jobs.

Sgt Allmond said: “I’m really proud of what we do. Not just this – but officers go to things all the time they hear across the radio that could be life changing – and I’m really proud of that.

"We just want to do the right thing. I’ve had people say ‘why not stay where you were?’ I wouldn’t criticise anyone for doing that – but I still most police officers would have done the same thing."

Joyce was given a life sentence for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility in 2016.

Mr Skrebowski, who lived in North Oxford and who ran an antiques and picture framing business, died that day from his injuries.

His widow Gulsen Alkan has since campaigned successfully for retailers store knives more safely.

She also persuaded the Oxfordshire coroner to investigate authorities' dealings with Joyce in the run-up to the stabbing, which revealed he had a long history of using knives and threatening violence.

The two officers will attend the national Police Bravery Awards, sponsored by Police Mutual, on Thursday, July 12.