HEROIC police officers involved in a dangerous stand-off with a man who threatened to set himself and two children alight have been presented with a bravery award.

Inspector Jeff Elms and PC Les Allison, from Cleveland Police, were called to the incident in Middlesbrough last October.

Mark McDonald, 32, admitted charges of making threats to kill and was jailed for three years.

The two officers were presented with their awards by Chief Constable Sean Price at a ceremony on Tuesday night.

McDonald had taken amphetamines, doused himself in petrol and locked himself and his daughters in a van with two containers of petrol and a lighter.

During a one-hour stand-off with police, he screamed at the officers and continued to pour petrol over himself, threatening to set the van on fire, during the incident in Bowfell Road, Middlesbrough.

PC Allison, a trained firearms officer, came within seconds of shooting McDonald, but changed his mind at the last minute.

He said: "I decided I was going to kill him. But he dragged his daughter across him so I didn't have a clear shot at him."

Recalling the stand-off, Insp Elms said: "We tried to talk to him and were considering every word because we didn't want to upset him and tip him over.

"We just kept trying to talk to him and calm him down. He would realise he was calming down so then he would psyche himself up and we thought: 'He is going to do it'."

* At the ceremony, an award was made for the sensitive way officers dealt with a woman who had been raped.

She had been traumatised by her ordeal, but sensitive and intelligent interviewing by officers in Langbaurgh led to her giving a detailed description, which resulted in her attacker being traced and arrested.

He later received seven life sentences at Teesside Crown Court.

l Sergeant Lee Upton was off duty when his actions saved the life of a woman and a young girl.

He had been shopping in the Cleveland Centre when he noticed a woman, who had a five-year-old girl with her, sat on the roof of the car park.

He negotiated with her for 20 minutes and called the police, but the woman then tried to throw herself off the roof.

The officer, who had just had a shoulder operation, grabbed her and pulled her to safety.

l A dozen officers, including six specials, also received long-service awards at the ceremony.