Heroic police officers from Fife have been honoured with bravery awards after saving the life of a heavily-pregnant woman who had been stabbed in the neck.
The four officers were called to a disturbance in Delgatie Court, in Glenrothes, in February, after concerned neighbours heard a woman screaming inside a flat.
Constables Paul Stather, Sarah Hay, Ashliegh Archer and Andrew Gillies arrived at the scene and forced their way into the property.
Inside the flat, officers found Stephen Ramsay, who was known to be violent, straddling his partner after having stabbed her multiple times.
While it was unclear if he was still armed, officers managed remove Ramsay from the flat while remaining officers battled to save the woman and her unborn twins.
Constable Sarah Hay recalls shouting on control for an ambulance, saying: "This female is dying in front of us, we need an ambulance now".
Tragically, the babies did not survive the horrific attack but the woman was saved thanks to the officers' actions.
Mr Ramsay admitted attempted murder at Edinburgh High Court in July and is due to be sentenced this month.
'She had been assaulted so badly she was almost unrecognisable'
Constable Paul Stather, 32, said: “There were three calls in quick succession and given the previous incidents with that male, I think we all knew there was something seriously wrong.
“I could see the male, who was known to us, straddling his partner who was heavily-pregnant. She had been assaulted so badly she was almost unrecognisable.
“She was barely conscious and the carpet was saturated in her blood. Her lips then started to go blue.”
Constable Andrew Gillies, 51, added: “You go into these situations and it's almost like you're on autopilot. We do what we have to do and think about the consequences afterwards.”
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