A Scots police officer who died while “bravely and selflessly” protecting his colleagues has been honoured at a special ceremony.
Four decades after his death, Detective Sergeant William Ross Hunt, known as Ross, was recognised with a Chief Constable’s Bravery Award, awarded posthumously, at the ceremony at Police Scotland HQ in Tulliallan.
DS Hunt, a long-serving member of Strathclyde Police, died after responding to a report of a serious assault at a pub in Larkhall on June 4, 1983.
DS Hunt was among a number of officers attacked with weapons at a property in the South Lanarkshire town after arriving to arrest a suspect.
READ MORE: Man dies and another injured in knife incident in Scots town
He encouraged the other detectives to get back to their vehicles, while trying to shield them from the attack.
He received numerous serious injuries and tragically died as a result.
Police Scotland said that his courageous actions ensured that the other officers survived the attack and those responsible were subsequently charged and convicted of his murder.
The Chief Constable’s Bravery Award comes following a campaign by Lanarkshire Police Historical Society to have DS Hunt’s selfless actions recognised nationally.
The matter was discussed in the Scottish Parliament and Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone QPM offered the highest honour he can give.
Speaking after presenting the award to DS Hunt’s family, including his two sons, Sir Iain said: “Ross's actions saved the lives of his fellow officers. His selfless courage and public service reflect all that is good in Scottish policing. It was a privilege to meet Ross's family, and, together, recognise his outstanding bravery.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel