A Metropolitan Police officer who was off-duty when he jumped into a river to save the life of a woman has won a London Police Bravery Award.
On the morning of 7 March 2025, PC Adam Darlow was off-duty, travelling home from a night shift. He was on a bus on a bridge going over the River Kennet in Reading, when he saw a woman standing on the bridge in her dressing gown.
She then took off the dressing gown, despite the extremely cold weather.
PC Darlow recalled: “Then she just looked up at the sky and fell forwards into the river and disappeared from view. I said to the bus driver: ‘Please let me off now, somebody has just thrown themselves into the river’. As I stepped off the bus, I dialled 999 and told the control room what had happened. Then I looked into the river and the woman had gone, she’d disappeared under the water.”
The officer continued to scan the river and then saw the woman appear again some distance away; she appeared to be unconscious.
PC Darlow ran down the towpath until he reached the woman, and asked a member of the public to grab a lifebuoy from the river bank. He threw it to the woman, but she did not respond.
He said: “I thought: I need to save this person's life. I'm a police officer; it's my core responsibility to protect people's lives, regardless of how dangerous it is. It's what I do and I have to do it.”
PC Darlow was running down the towpath when he was approached by a group of uniformed police officers, who said they could help. He saw a ladder going into the river, and decided to climb down it to try to rescue the woman.
He said: “The river was dark and cold. And at that time of year, it's quite high and fast. I didn't think about it. I just said, ‘I'm going in to get her’. Then a passerby came over and said: ‘Take my walking stick’.
“The woman floated just within reach, and I managed to hook hold of her and put her in towards me close. I told her to grab hold of me and she was incoherent, so I brought her up onto me and then a sergeant appeared above me. I went underneath her and put her up onto my shoulder and pushed her up out of the water. Then they grabbed her out of the river and took her off to the side.
“I was numb, it was freezing. I couldn't feel my legs, and thought, ‘Am I going to be able to get out now?’ But as I started moving, adrenaline kicked in.”
An ambulance arrived and started treating the woman, and the fire brigade came and assisted with first aid. Fortunately, the woman survived.
When PC Darlow heard he had won a London Police Bravery Award, he said: “It felt really good. I think it's something that needs to be publicised a lot more, as we sometimes don't get the recognition we deserve. And there are a lot of things that go unrecorded.”
Metropolitan Police Federation Chair Paula Dodds said: “What a credit to the Metropolitan Police Adam is. And as always this just shows how our colleagues are never truly off duty.
“Adam had just finished a tiring night shift and should have been heading home for some much needed rest, but his brilliant policing intuition told him to get off that bus.
“He selflessly entered freezing water to save a vulnerable woman, doubtlessly saving her life. We are all very proud of him.”
PC Darlow will attend the London Police Bravery Awards 2026 on Thursday 26 March.
At the event three overall winners or teams will be announced, and they will attend the National Police Federation Bravery Awards in July.
The Gold sponsors of the London Police Bravery Awards are Police Friendly & Metfriendly, Axon, and Officer Insurance Cover by Everywhen.
The Silver sponsors are Slater and Gordon Lawyers and JMW Solicitors; and the Bronze sponsors are Police Mortgages, Serve and Protect Credit Union, Accord, THB Solicitors, the National Police Healthcare Scheme, Uniform Mortgages, Addept, No1 CopperPot Credit Union, No5 Chambers, Blackfords and Penningtons Manches Cooper.
