A NEWLY appointed community support officer who reunited victims of the Manchester terror attack with policemen who helped them in their hour of need has been commended by her force.

Sarah Sutcliffe was with her then ten-year-old daughter Poppy at the Ariana Grande performance at Manchester Arena when the bomb detonated on May 22, this year.

The pair, of Ingleby Barwick, returned to the city less than two weeks later for the One Love Manchester benefit concert where, in a mental struggle to enter the Old Trafford Cricket Ground, two officers came to their aid.

Following the concert Ms Sutcliffe launched a Facebook appeal to find the Good Samaritans and PCSO Lisa Hall, who works on the beat in Sedgefield, set to work to reunite them.

Now PCSO Hall, a former colleague of Ms Sutcliffe, has been recognised for her actions, labelled an "admirable example of first class police work", with a commendation from Chief Constable Mike Barton.

"It was the right thing to do after such a horrible incident," she said. "I wanted to turn a negative into a bit of a positive. As a human being it's nice to do something and it was something I wanted to do."

The support officer, who only joined the force in April, was "massively touched" when she read about how the mother and daughter' had frozen at the gates.

Mrs Sutcliffe said: "We were overwhelmed by the police presence and were really emotional. As a parent I knew we had to go so we we didn't go through life with it hanging over us.

"They reassured us and promised we would be safe. PC Nick Cross cuddled my daughter and and they were both crying. It was the most magical moment. We wished that we had said thank you."

In what she dubbed Operation Poppy, PCSO Hall contacted PC Cross and Sergeant Luke Newman, from Preston, and organised a reunion for their rest days - but with an added bonus.

The kind-hearted officer went behind the scenes to Ms Sutcliffe's employer and Poppy's headteacher, of Ingleby Mill Primary School, and organised to go in and surprise them.

On the fun day which took place before the summer holidays, the duo were reunited and whisked off in a riot van to Durham Police HQ where they enjoyed a lunch with Chief Con Barton and had a ride out with the Roads Policing Unit.

"It was just unbelievable," added Ms Sutcliffe. "It was bringing the police and public together, and Lisa went above and beyond."

Last week the support officer was joined by Ms Sutcliffe and Poppy, 11, for the award presentation, which praised her "creativity, commitment to the public and making a real difference to a child's life".