A WOMAN who battled high waves to drag a body from the Solent has received an award for her bravery.

Emma Phelps was at an eighth birthday party on the beach at Barton-on- Sea with her two daughters and friends when they spotted the body, later identified as that of a Bournemouth woman with a history of schizophrenia.

Mrs Phelps needed hospital treatment for shock and hypothermia.

The presentation was made at the New Forest Police Awards.

Also receiving awards were PC Sam Brewis of New Milton, who located and arrested a violent offender who had robbed a 79-year-old last March; and DC Matt Parker of the Priority Crime Unit, who co-ordinated a successful investigation into a series of burglaries in and around New Milton.

Five officers involved in the pursuit of a Bentley car stolen at Ringwood in April were commended for their professional conduct when they rescued its three occupants after it crashed into a tree and overturned on Holmsley Hill.

They were PCs Elliot Campbell, Toby Maidment, Joanne Hopgood, David Caffyn and Claire Holmes.