A team of Metropolitan Police officers who climbed five storeys of scaffolding – at incredible pace and with no safety equipment - to save a man’s life have won London Police Bravery Awards.
At around 6am on 27 April 2025, police were called by a resident of a property in Blackheath, saying she had been woken up to a man climbing the five-storey scaffolding outside the building and stating he was going to jump off.
PC Simon Thomas (pictured left) and PC Rhafaela Aliprandi were first at the scene, in an unmarked car, and saw the man in a state of significant emotional distress, shouting about wanting to end his life.
PC Thomas immediately requested the assistance of the London Ambulance Service, London Fire Brigade, the duty officer and a negotiator. The officers tried to build a rapport with the man, but the man refused to provide any details about himself.
PC Aliprandi recalled: “At that point, I didn't think he was going to jump, just because he was still communicating with us. But eventually he got more distressed and that's when I knew he was going to hurt himself.”
PC Will Hesketh (pictured right) and another officer arrived on scene and the man immediately became more agitated by the presence of uniformed officers and a marked police car. He started to move forward on the scaffolding and repeated his threats to jump.
The officers moved back so as not to cause distress to the man; they also closed the road and provided updates to the duty officer and sergeants when they arrived on scene.
PC Thomas and PC Aliprandi maintained communication with the man, who became increasingly erratic in his behaviour. He had also removed a number of the scaffolding ladders to deter emergency services from attempting to reach him.
Two other colleagues who are being recognised at the Awards attended the scene and set a working strategy of contain and negotiate, unless police action was forced by an immediate risk to life.
PC Thomas said: “It became quite obvious to us that he wasn't going to come down.”
Suddenly the man attempted to take his own life.
PC Thomas and PC Aliprandi immediately climbed up the scaffolding. Due to the removal of a number of the ladders, they were unable to use the boarded walkways and were forced to climb on the outside of the scaffolding.
The danger to them became precarious as they climbed the high scaffolding at pace.
PC Thomas managed to get to the man – saving his life.
“There was one point during the climb where I was aware of the risk… and obviously had I fallen… it would have been curtains for me probably,” he recalls.
PC Hesketh was next up the scaffolding, backing the other two officers up.
With no specialist emergency services at the scene, A/Sgt Brophy and Insp Wicks also climbed up the scaffolding with two members of the fire brigade.
PC Hesketh and PC Aliprandi attempted to maintain an airway and started CPR until a specialist ambulance member staff was able to scale the scaffolding and provide medical assistance. A cherry picker brought the man to the ground, where he was sedated and taken to hospital.
PC Thomas said: “At the back of your mind, you're always aware of the dangers, but you're running on instinct and there's no one in our team who wouldn't have done the same thing in those circumstances. There's a life at risk right in front of you. Fortunately, on this occasion, it all worked out well. He survived.”
PC Hesketh said: “I'm very proud of Simon and Rhafaela and all the other people who were involved – it's definitely a job that will stick with me for life.
“I think we all joined this job for the same reason, to help people. And that was a person in the worst position they could be in. We always try to do the best for the person that's in front of us, and if that means scaling five storeys of scaffolding to save their life, then I'd do it again tomorrow.”
PC Thomas said that receiving a London Bravery Award was “a massive honour”.
He added: “I'm incredibly proud to be part of this team. One of the reasons I joined this job is to have that team ethic. We've become a lot closer since this incident happened.”
Metropolitan Police Federation Chair Paula Dodds said: “These officers put themselves at considerable risk to ensure a member of the public’s safety.
“Simon, Rhafaela and Will showed incredible bravery as they scaled the scaffolding to save this man’s life.
“They showed resilience in a high-pressured, dangerous and dynamic situation where they needed to stay calm and focused on the task at hand. Any delay could have led to the man’s death.
“Well done to this top team.”
PC Thomas, PC Aliprandi and PC Hesketh 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.
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.
If you are affected by this story, please contact the Samaritans https://www.samaritans.org/.
