First Minister honours pond rescue teen

A TEENAGE boy who jumped into a pond to save two young children from drowning has been hailed a hero by the First Minister after he was honoured at a bravery awards ceremony.

Aaron Love, 16, from Livingston, West Lothian, was one of 30 people given a Brave@Heart award by Alex Salmond.

He plunged into the water after he saw the brother and the sister get into difficulties in May last year.

The teenager was one of the youngest of a group including police officers, firefighters, special constables and members of the public who were recognised for their courage at the awards in Edinburgh last night.

Other winners included Annette Smith, 46, Alistair Campbell, 55, Jamie Anderson, 20, and James Brown, 18, all from Inverness-shire, who helped disarm and restrain a shoplifter armed with a knife in the supermarket where they worked, and Eric Reid, 56, from Aberdeenshire, who waded into a freezing river in January to help a woman whose car had skidded on black ice.

Also honoured were Martin Farnworth, 62, Liam McKenzie, 31, from Dundee, and Dr Catrina Hewitt, 32, from Perthshire, who climbed down a ravine to treat a 15-year-old girl who had lost control of her bike and fallen into the River Braan.

Dr Hewitt – a local GP – stayed with the girl and treated her until a Royal Navy search and rescue helicopter arrived.