A MAN has thanked a rookie police officer who used newly-acquired first aid skills to help save his life.

John Hart severed the main artery in his right arm during an accident at his home.

The 36-year-old joiner put his arm through a pane of glass as he tried to stop an internal door slamming shut on his dog.

PC Bram Booth and PC Jonathan Hamill, of the professional development unit, were sent to the house in Lichfield Gardens, West Cornforth, County Durham, along with two paramedics, after reports of a serious incident.

PC Booth travelled in an ambulance to the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City, and had to help one of the medics working on Mr Hart by applying pressure to stem the blood loss.

He said: "All the training in the world cannot prepare you for something like this. Although one of the paramedics applied a makeshift bandage there was so much blood seeping through he had to keep breaking off to get a fresh one.

"I had to sit on top of John and apply all the pressure I could to slow the bleeding."

Mr Hart had to undergo a six-hour operation and was kept in hospital for a week. He has since had a skin graft and started physiotherapy.

The paramedics said that Mr Hart, a father-of-three, would have bled to death without PC Booth's swift work and the officer has now been nominated for a St John Ambulance award.

Mr Hart said: "Most of the damage happened when I withdrew my arm from the glass.

"All the tendons were severed and I needed around 200 internal and external stitches. I certainly won't be doing any arm-wrestling for a while.

"I cannot thank Bram enough for what he did."

Former metalworker PC Booth, who joined Durham Police in May, was only four weeks into his initial patrol work at the time of the incident, in September, and had just completed a three-day first aid course as part of his training.