Chief inspector Ross Hickman with his daughters Millie-Rose and Sophie-Jane, collecting their awards from Borough Commander Jason Stewart [Bernard J Keeler]

ONE of Islington’s top police officers and his young daughters have been commended by the Metropolitan Police for talking a man down from the edge of a motorway overpass.

Ross Hickman was driving his daughters, Millie-Rose and Sophie-Jane, aged 11 and 7 at the time, to an indoor ski lesson last July when he saw a man on the wrong side of the overpass barrier – and went on to spend 45 minutes persuading him to come back to safety.

He was promoted to Chief Inspector last month and parachuted into at Charing Cross police station as a safe pair of hands following Panorama’s misconduct revelations.

This week he recounted the day he saved the man’s life on the motorway as officers were handed awards for exceptional service.

Millie-Rose and Sophie-Jane had waited in the car as Mr Hickman talked to the man, and he told the Tribune: “It was probably the most harrowing and distressing incident I’ve ever dealt with in my policing career, and I’ve been in policing now for nearly 22 years.

“I’ve dealt with death and the like, but to have witnessed it happen in front of me would have been horrific. As soon as I came away from that, I was broken. I had to stop at a service station and just cry my eyes out.

“It’s a reminder that men suffer mental health issues. This man had had a fall-out with his young daughter – he thought he was a bad father. We’ve all been in that position as a parent.”

Tanya Korostelova and Abul Malik with their certificates

While Mr Hickman built a rapport with the man and spoke to his wife on the phone, Millie-Rose led her younger sister to the boot of the car and gave her a phone to play with so she was distracted from what was going on.

“They were brilliant,” said Mr Hickman of his daughters. “To be that young and see something like that – and they would never have known whether he was going to go or not.”

Millie-Rose’s quick thinking and Sophie-Jane’s bravery saw them win the honour of a Met commendation – and a standing ovation – alongside their father at a ceremony in the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.

Dozens of other Islington officers were also recognised for their work, including park guards Abul Malik and Tanya Korostelova.

In March last year, the pair were on patrol in St Thomas’s Road, Finsbury Park, when they saw a knife fight break out between two men outside William Hill. They followed the men into Plimsoll Road and, on realising that all nearby officers were caught up in an incident elsewhere, decided to intervene.

Islington council leader Una O’Halloran and Camden mayor Eddie Hanson at the Emirates

Presenting their awards, Detective Superintendent Damon Williams said: “Faced with a critical decision and fully aware of the risks, Abul and Tanya chose not to retreat. Instead, they made the extraordinarily brave and selfless decision to leave the safety of their patrol vehicle and engage… despite having no policing powers and minimal protective equipment.”

They handcuffed the attacker, who was wielding two large kitchen knives, and when officers arrived they also found an axe in his possession and confirmed he had been about to force entry into a nearby property.

“Their exceptional, unwavering commitment to public safety directly prevented a potentially fatal attack,” added DS Williams.

Other officers commended for their service included teams working on child protection and the prevention of sexual violence, as well as off-duty police who jumped into action to thwart a knife incident on their way to a leaving-do in King’s Cross, and detained a male predator on the tube in the early hours of New Year’s Day.