Hero police chief who saved four is denied award

A senior Scotland Yard officer who lost an eye while helping four American FBI agents to escape a bomb blast has been denied a bravery award by the Government.



Detective Superintendent Keith Pearce - a leading counterterrorism expert - was sitting outside Luna Caprese, an Italian restaurant in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, in March when a bomb was thrown near his table.

Seated nearby were four FBI agents, two of whom were seriously hurt. Bleeding from a serious eye injury and wounded by shrapnel, Supt Pearce, 50 - who had been training Pakistani police - pulled the two injured agents into the restaurant, treating one for a head wound, before securing the area as a crime scene.

Bloodied: Pearce after the blast

He then commandeered a truck, helped all four FBI officers into the back and ordered the driver to take them to hospital.



Supt Pearce's eye was so badly injured that it later had to be removed at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. He is now registered as disabled.



Sources said that Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair had personally recommended Supt Pearce for an award.



But after informal soundings with several Whitehall Ministries, the Yard was advised that Supt Pearce was not eligible because those he had helped were not British citizens. 'Advice was given that there were complications because of that fact,' said a source.



A Home Office spokesman said: 'We do not comment on individual award recommendations.'

