Celebrating Brighton and Hove's policing and public heroes

Sussex Police’s Brighton and Hove division celebrated its annual awards ceremony on Tuesday (6 June), recognising the outstanding work of its officers, staff, volunteers and members of the public.

The divisional command team were joined at the 1^st Central Hove Cricket Ground by Assistant Chief Constable Howard Hodges, High Sheriff of East Sussex Richard Bickersteth and the Mayor of Brighton and Hove, councillor Jackie O’Quinn.

A diverse range of awards celebrated the highlights of 12 months protecting the people of Brighton and Hove, giving a snapshot of the life-saving work carried out every day of the year.

Recognition included achieving justice for victims through long, complex investigations; life-saving acts of heroism in the heat of the moment; consistently high performance and strong leadership; innovative thinking to help protect the public, and inspirational bravery from members of the public.

Chief Superintendent Justin Burtenshaw, Divisional Commander for Brighton and Hove, said: “It fills me with enormous pride to recognise the achievements of everyone recognised at this year’s ceremony.

“All of these people went above and beyond to protect our communities, catch criminals and deliver an outstanding service to victims, witnesses and the wider public.

“While these hugely deserved awards may be the highlights of the last 12 months, they are examples of the incredible service I’m privileged to see every day.

“I continue to be inspired by the commitment, bravery and life-saving dedication displayed by our officers, staff, volunteers and members of the public.

“The members of the public recognised this year could have simply looked the other way, but instead they stepped in to protect complete strangers.

“That is what police officers, staff and volunteers do every day – they dedicate their time to keeping our communities safe, with all the personal sacrifice and risk that entails. I thank them all for their service.”

Some of the award winners include:

PC Jamie Botting, Kylie Wroe and Nick Strickland

PC Jamie Botting, Kylie Wroe and Nick Strickland received Divisional Commendations for their work on the Night Safety Marshals scheme in Brighton and Hove.

Launched in August, 2022, the Night Safety Marshals are SIA-accredited security staff funded by Sussex Police who patrol the night-time economy in Brighton protecting vulnerable people.

They are a vital extra set of eyes and ears for the police, helping to spot missing or wanted people, people in distress or escalating situations. They can then call police officers or other emergency services for support, or signpost the individuals towards the right services.

PC Botting and Kylie were the driving force behind the creation of the Marshals, acting as a crucial link between the public, emergency services and supporting agencies in Brighton and Hove. Nick is a member of the team and is no stranger to calling in wanted or missing people – even on his days off.

Since the Marshals were launched in Brighton they have carried out more than 571 hours of high-visibility patrols; responded to more than 1,398 incidents and supported more than 447 vulnerable women and girls in the night-time economy.

The scheme’s effectiveness has seen it rolled out successfully in Crawley, while it continues to make a significant difference in Brighton and Hove.

DC Victoria Thornton-Green (pictured top), DI James Meanwell, DC Edward Downes, DC Helen Cook, Catherine Jayne and Rebecca Terry (pictured bottom, both with ACC Howard Hodges, Mayor Jackie O’Quinn, and High Sheriff Richard Bickersteth)

Operation Thyme was an investigation spanning almost four years into the tragic death of a man working on a construction site in Hove in July, 2018.

In amassing the huge amount of evidence required for the gross negligence manslaughter investigation, the Op Thyme team worked closely with subject matter experts to build their case, bringing together vast amounts of complex information.

While the investigation itself required huge amounts of tenacity and determination, the team kept the victim’s family updated throughout during an extremely difficult period, retaining their support to the conclusion of the long-running investigation.

In April, 2022, two construction bosses were jailed for a total of six years and three months – one for manslaughter by gross negligence and both for a range of health and safety offences.

 

Lucia Calandriello (with ACC Howard Hodges, Mayor Jackie O’Quinn, and High Sheriff Richard Bickersteth)

Lucia was the officer in charge of Operation Alder, an investigation into a series of malicious phone calls targeting women with horrific threats of sexual violence.

Forty-two-year-old Ameer Tahir, of Kings Road in Brighton, was initially charged with offences against 15 victims, before the investigation uncovered dozens more. Tahir was jailed for nine years, with an additional four years on extended licence, after admitting to stalking and harassing 59 women.

Lucia amassed the huge amounts of evidence required to prove Tahir’s guilt and illicit guilty pleas, while personally updating the 59 victims throughout the investigation and supporting them during an understandably challenging experience.

Responding to her award, Lucia said: “I’m really pleased and honoured to have been nominated for a Divisional Commendation for Op Alder.

“This was a complex investigation involving a large number of female victims who had received continuous phone calls from the suspect, some over the period of a year. The victims that answered the calls were subject to the most horrific threats of rape and sexual assault.

“Without these victims reporting it to police and supporting the investigation through to sentencing we would not have been able to secure a successful prosecution and protect other potential victims.”

Read more about the investigation: Brighton man jailed for 'terrorising' almost 60 women in stalking campaign | Sussex Police

 

Archie Hall and Francis Lennon (with Ch/Supt Justin Burtenshaw)

Archie Hall and Francis Lennon, both 13 years old, were tinkering with their bikes in Mill Road in Brighton on the afternoon of Saturday, 8 April, when they noticed a young child who seemed lost.

The six-year-old boy had in fact been reported missing two hours ago nearly four miles away at Brighton beach and was the subject of an intensive search by emergency services nearer the scene.

Archie and Francis had the presence of mind to not only take the child to nearby Hill Top Café, but to ask staff to call police as they were concerned for his welfare.

Officers were then able to pick up the child and return him to his extremely relieved family. Without their quick-thinking and care, that Saturday could have had a very different ending.

Archie and Francis were presented with Divisional Commendations at Tuesday’s awards – the youngest recipients by some margin.

They both said they and their parents were really proud of their actions on that day.

Archie said: “We saw him walking along by himself and we just thought something seemed wrong. We thought we had to help him, so just took him along from Mill Road to get help.”

“If we didn’t help him, who else would?” Frankie said.

 

Robert Hodges

Robert Hodges finished his shift managing security at a club in Brighton on 10 October, 2022, when he heard screaming and saw a man being pulled into an alleyway off West Street by two others.

He ran towards the incident and pulled the man to safety, before the pair fled the scene. He then stayed with the victim until police officers arrived. Thankfully, the man was largely unharmed and an investigation was launched to try to identify the suspects.

The victim was so grateful he wrote a personal letter to Robert’s employers, which said:

“His bravery to intervene in a situation where others would just walk by was truly admirable. The thought of what could have happened is truly horrible – instead, it’s only cost me a few scratches and bruises and a new pair of jeans.

“This guy is by far truly a hero, and when I come back to Brighton I will thank him personally, but for now I wanted him to know I am truly grateful.”

Robert was contacted by Ch/Supt Burtenshaw about his nomination, but said he first thought it was a prank as he never believed ‘in a million years I would get something like this’.

“I would like to take a moment to thank the company I work for and the director, as he has stood by me and given me the opportunity to help and lead new starters and run the business in his absence,” Robert said. 

“So a massive thank you to Souleymane and everyone at Legendary Security.

“I would also like to thank my parents for supporting me and a big thank you to Sussex Police’s Licensing Team who have supported me and given me lots of advice throughout my time on the door.

“And finally to the Over the Rainbow company who have allowed me to run their door at the Bulldog in St James’ Street and work with me to help keep the customers safe.”

Neighbourhood Policing Team – PCSO Christopher Browning, PCSO Vanessa Farrell, PCSO Molly Baskar, Inspector Karen Osborne, PSCSO Brenda Meyer and PC Richard Hall