A HAVE-A-GO hero who chased after a machete-wielding robber was honoured for his bravery.

Paul Clark, 45, of Pontypool, tried to stop balaclava-wearing robber Iwan Owen, after he targeted the Albion Road Service Station in Pontypool, where his girlfriend was working.

"I had gone to pick her up, and I saw him running out," said Mr Clark. He said: "My girlfriend said, 'Don't go after him. He's got a knife'. But he'd threatened her so I went after him.

"I almost got him but he just managed to brush past me."

Luckily, officers were on hand to apprehend Owen, who had also robbed Woodland Road Service Station in Croesyceiliog earlier that evening. In all, £500 was stolen during the robberies.

As reported in January, he was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to armed robbery.

Mr Clark, from Twmpath Hill, Pontypool, was given a police commendation for his bravery at an awards ceremony in Pontypool. "The award should go to my girlfriend really, for managing to go back to work afterwards," said Mr Clark.

"It was a terrifying experience."

Also honoured for their bravery were two PCs who disarmed a drunken teenager threatening them with an eight-inch kitchen knife.

PCs Sarah Smith and Jeff Barclay, based in Monmouth, had escorted the youth home when he grabbed a knife and threatened them.

"It was a bit of a shock to see him standing there waving a knife," said PC Barclay.

He added: "I sprayed him with CS gas but it was in a confined space, so we were effected as well."

"Luckily we managed to overpower him but it could have been a lot worse," said PC Smith.

PC Clare Hall was awarded for her part in a police investigation which led to the conviction of a Cwmbran man for manslaughter.

As reported in the Argus, John Storm, 39, of Caradoc Road, was found guilty of causing the death of his friend Francis Weldon last year in a quarry near Chepstow.

Mr Weldon plummeted 100 feet down a cliff.

PC Hall took the first emergency call from Storm and helped him search for Mr Weldon's body, along with colleagues.

During the course of this, she gleaned valuable verbal evidence which helped in his conviction.