THREE brave police officers who leapt into the water to rescue people from drowning are to be rewarded for their courage.

Northumbria force Chief Constable Crispian Strachan will present the officers with their awards at a ceremony at force headquarters in Ponteland on Monday.

Among those honoured is PC Robert Bagshaw, 30, who rescued the crew of an upturned dinghy during the Sunderland Air Show last July.

While on duty with the marine unit off Sunderland, he and the RNLI were called to Easington after reports of a number of people in difficulty. They discovered an abandoned dinghy and two survivors clinging to a rock 100 metres from the shore.

When he saw a third man lying face down on the seabed in three metres of water he stripped to the waist, and despite not being an experienced swimmer, dived in and managed to drag the man to safety.

Showing no vital signs, the man spent three days on a life-support machine, but eventually made a full recovery.

PC Bagshaw will receive the Royal Humane Society.

The society will also give Order Life Saving Medals in Bronze to PCs Bob Rushbrooke, 33, and Angus Watson, 44, for their part in dragging a suicidal man from the River Tyne.

The pair, with PC Ian Smith who has already received his award, plunged into the river in February 1999 after a man lost his footing on a bridge. After being persuaded to come down, he was climbing back down to safety when he lost his footing and fell into the water.

The trio jumped into the Tyne and managed to pull the man ashore. All four needed treatment for the effects of the cold.