QUICK-acting police officers who wrestled a knife off a strong, mentally ill attacker are to be commended for their bravery.

PC Julie Willis was pinned up against park railings by Aykut Sokmen after she challenged him, while he was attacking another woman.

Turkish-speaking Sokmen, then 34, tried to strangle the Halstead officer but her three male colleagues pulled him off in the early morning call-out in September.

Sokmen, of Trinity House, was charged with attempted murder and taken to court, but a judge said he did not have the mental capacity to stand trial.

He was taken to a secure hospital unit after the court case in October.

armed PC Willis, PCs Simon Faraday, Gareth Hennessy and Barrie Schulz are today being commended by Chief Constable Roger Baker in a police ceremony.

PC Schulz, praised his younger colleagues for their quick-thinking intervention, after one – PC Faraday – had only been on the beat for a week.

He said: “It was a very difficult situation.

“We knew that the person had armed himself with a knife – we had had the call that two people had been stabbed and we were on scene quite quickly.

“It was quite unpleasant for PCs Faraday and Willis.”