A COURAGEOUS police constable from Ardrossan who foiled a knife-wielding attacker on her own has been announced as one of the winners of this year's Pride of Scotland Awards.

PC Clare Chalmers has earned an emergency services award for her bravery in tackling the violent man without any backup in September 2020.

The 55-year-old was on her way home after a 10-hour shift when she was called back to reports of the incident at a home on the Isle of Mull.

As the nearest on-duty officer was some distance away, the officer attended single crewed. When she arrived, she found a woman with a bloodied face who said she had been assaulted by a man and that he was still at large in the property.

PC Chalmers found him hiding in another room under a duvet. Without warning, he produced two knives and threatened to stab both the officer and the victim.

The officer pulled out her PAVA spray and used it to disarm the man. She shouted at him to drop the weapons and was able to remove them and lead the woman to safety.

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The man stayed in the property - threatening the women while they waited for backup. But PC Chalmers made sure the injured woman was safe and well and set up a cordon around the property until officers arrived by helicopter.

A spokesman for Police Scotland said: “Clare’s instinctive and courageous actions resulted in the arrest of a violent offender who subsequently received a custodial sentence.”

PC Chalmers is one of 10 winners in the 2022 awards, organised by The Daily Record and TSB.

The awards, which will be broadcast on STV in July and include an exclusive performance by Scottish musical duo Saint PHNX, celebrate ordinary people doing extraordinary things and will see a group of awe-inspiring Scots being recognised for their outstanding achievements during a glittering, red carpet ceremony on June 21.

Hosted for the second year by actress and national treasure Elaine C. Smith and new host for 2022, comedian and writer Sanjeev Kohli, the awards will take place at the historic Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh.

Other winners being celebrated will include: the founder of counselling charity Crisis, a six-year-old cancer sufferer who had to endure treatment in isolation, a seriously ill transplant patient who stuns everyone with his zest for life, a charity founder who recently led a mercy mission to rescue Ukrainian orphans from the war zone, and the youngest Scot suffering from motor neurone disease.