PC Andrew McKelvie works for the Metropolitan Police in the London borough of Ealing. On the morning of January 14, 2012, PC McKelvie and his colleague PC Matthew Harries, attended an incident in Hanwell, West London, where a neighbour was complaining about the noise coming from the house next door.
After obtaining further information from the complainant, the two officers went to investigate. On attending the next door property the officers saw that the door was already open and could hear the shouting coming from inside.
The two officers went inside to investigate further, when they were confronted by the occupant, in the hallway of the premises, who started shouting at them before disappearing into the kitchen. He re-emerged brandishing a four-inch kitchen knife, and approached the officers. As he came towards the officers brandishing the knife, PC Harries, sprayed him with CS spray, which had no effect.
As the officers continued to retreat, PC Harries tripped. The occupant continued towards PC McKelvie, shouting that he was going to kill him. The officer used his baton to try to stop the assailant, who attempted to stab him in the throat. Shielding himself with his left arm, the knife struck his left wrist. Such was the force of the blow that the knife embedded itself in the officer’s arm, right up to the handle.
PC McKelvie staggered out of the house and waited for further units to arrive, fearing that he was going into shock through loss of blood. PC McKelvie’s wife, Hayley, who was 35-weeks pregnant at the time, works in the police control room and heard the whole attack as it happened.
How did the Blue Lamp Foundation help?
PC McKelvie was taken to hospital with loss of feeling in the bottom half of his left hand and the bottom two fingers. In surgery it was discovered that some of the tendons in the hand had been damaged, but the worst damage was to the ulna nerve, which runs from the elbow to the palm of the hand. The Blue Lamp Foundation reimbursed some of the costs accrued by PC McKelvie as a result of his injury.
How the help was delivered?
The Blue Lamp Foundation awarded PC McKelvie a grant of £480 to reimburse travel and other expense to hospital appointments, including physiotherapy at Mount Vernon Hospital in Rickmansworth.
The impact this help had on the individual’s life
PC Mckelvie has been left unable to drive and has lost much of the use of his left hand. He is still undergoing physiotherapy for the condition at Mount Vernon hospital in Rickmansworth.
The future
The bravery of Andrew McKelvie was recognised by the Metropolitan Police Commissioner’s Excellence in Total Policing Awards, for outstanding
