High Sheriff Justice Award

Our next High Sheriff Justice Award Ceremony is planned for early April. A wait to be able to plan this owing to ongoing restrictions in London Crown Courts because of the latest wave of Covid.

The last ceremony was held in October 2021 at the UK Supreme Court by kind permission of the President of the Supreme Court, Lord Reed. It was the first ceremony for two years, after the Spring 2020 ceremony had to be cancelled as a result of the first lockdown.

It was a huge privilege to be able to present award certificates to 18 people who had shown extraordinary acts of bravery and public spiritedness to help bring someone to justice and in coming to the aid of a victim. These included a taxi driver, who had followed a robber having seen him attack a man, only to find the robber hailing his taxi (!) leading to an arrest; a doctor who had come to the aid of a man who had been stabbed on an underground train by a mentally disturbed person, whilst facing attack himself;  a security guard who kept chase, notwithstanding that he faced gun fire, having seen a car driven in suspicious circumstances, leading to the identification and arrest of the driver and a man and his son who had interviewed and rescued a blind neighbour from a violent attack in her home.

The award recipients fully reflect the diversity of London. Their public spiritedness is humbling. It is also vital to the work of the Metropolitan Police. Policing depends on the support (and consent) of the public to keep communities safe and detect and prevent crime.

The ceremony was attended by the Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, the judges who recommended the awards be made and Justices of the Supreme Court, bringing Justice visibly to the fore. The Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London was also present and expressed his gratitude to the award recipients on behalf of the citizens of London.