Moment unarmed officers take down gunman as children play out on streets nearby

They ran towards danger when most of us would run from it. Three unarmed GMP officers defied their bosses and took down a gunman in north Manchester to save people's lives.

Some of their heroics were captured on dramatic dashcam footage which showed PCs Jack Grainger, Jessica Hamblett and Richard Hayes tackling gunman Mohammed Shabaz Rafiq even though they heard the sound of a shot being fired moments earlier.

The unarmed cops were advised to wait for armed back-up - but the streets of Harpurhey were filling with kids on their way home from school and they decided to act. Now, thanks to their heroics, the gunman is behind bars and the three officers have landed national bravery awards.

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PCs Jessica Hamblett, 29, from Ramsbottom, Richard Hayes, 42, from Flixton, and Jack Grainger accepted their gongs at the national police bravery awards last week. But the official press release about their heroics doesn't come close to describing the fear and heroics they encountered as they entered the tenth hour of what had been a fairly routine shift on March 24 last year.

This is the sometimes absurd life of all front line police officers who have to make split-second calls when facing impossible dilemmas, decisions they know can make them villains if the get it wrong as well as heroes.

Their unmarked patrol car was driving through Harpurhey at about 3.30pm - as parents and their children were beginning to fill the streets - when they spotted some men in a phone box known to be used by drug dealers.

"We were looking at them and then we heard a bang. I turned to my colleague and said 'that's a gunshot'. As I said that, a guy came running with a black bin bag, clutching