The father of murdered Manchester Police woman Nicola Hughes is behind a campaign launched today to call for the creation of a new award to recognise fallen emergency service workers.
PC Hughes and her colleague PC Fiona Bone were murdered a decade ago during a gun and grenade attack by Dale Cregan after he lured them to an address in Mottram-in-Longdendale in September 2012
The campaign launched by the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), the Police Superintendents’ Association and the Prison Officers’ Association calls for unique recognition for emergency service workers who make the ultimate sacrifice whilst in the execution of their duty.
After losing his daughter former prison officer Bryn Hughes, played a leading part in the successful campaign to establish the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire, which commemorates the 5,000 police officers who have died in the line of duty over the years. He also runs the PC Nicola Hughes Memorial Fund, to help children whose parents have been murdered.
Bryn, who has Nicola’s police number 14846 tattooed on his wrist, is supporting the campaign for the new medal. He said: “Police officers and emergency service workers like Nicola are human beings who go to work expecting to finish their shift then head home to see family. They willingly sign up to serve the public, knowing the dangers they might face.
“In my daughter Nicola’s case she was the tiniest thing, just 5ft tall. When she died, a colleague told me: ‘she had the body of a lion cub, and the heart of a lion’.”
Bryn continued: “As a society, it is only fitting and right we recognise her service and courage. I am backing this campaign as the creation of a new medal would fittingly honour fallen colleagues, and the families of emergency workers who have suffered a devastating loss.
“It would mean so much to so many for the Government to officially show formal gratitude to Nicola and others and say ‘thank you’ to those who are killed because they have gone to work wearing a uniform.
“Although it is now a decade since we lost her, there is not a day that goes by where I don’t think of Nicola. Nothing will ever make up for her loss, but this award would bring a large degree of comfort to me and many others and is long overdue.”
PFEW’s Deputy National Secretary John Partington said: “It is only right we should honour fallen colleagues and support bereaved families. Police officers and other emergency service workers willingly run towards danger while others run away.
“The current awards system does not formally recognise emergency service workers who lose their lives while performing their duties, and all too often formal State recognition is not forthcoming. The proposed new medal would not just recognise outstanding individual acts of dedication to duty, it would also mean so much to family, friends and colleagues.”
Paul Fotheringham, President of the Police Superintendents’ Association, added: “Back in 2019, we called for an extension to the award of the Elizabeth Cross to those police families whose loved ones have died in the execution of their duty, and we continue to support the need for this formal recognition.
“Police officers and other emergency service workers dedicate years of their lives ensuring the safety of others, and sometimes this results in the most tragic of sacrifices when they lose their lives in the line of duty. It is right our nation affords these people, and their families, the value they deserve through recognition of this kind.”
