HERO policeman Stephen Oake, stabbed to death tackling an al-Qaida terrorist, has finally been honoured - five years after his bravery was snubbed.
After a campaign from the police, the public, and the MEN, Det Con Oake has been awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal.
It was that award, along with the George Cross, that he was denied - despite his courage during an anti-terror raid in Crumpsall.
But a claim by ministers that new evidence had come to light, following a new report into the incident, was denied by GMP Chief Constable Peter Fahy.
He said: "No fresh criminal evidence regarding this case has been presented to the committee."
Det Con Oake, 40, was killed in January 2003 as he tackled terrorist Kamel Bourgass.
Det Con Oake, from Poynton, was praised for saving the lives of three other officers and helping avert a terrorist attack that could have claimed hundreds of lives.
Extremely proud
His widow Lesley said: "This is great news. We are extremely proud that his sacrificial act of bravery has resulted in this prestigious award."
Colleagues campaigned for the officer to be given a George Cross, the highest bravery award that can be awarded to a civilian. But the George Cross committee sparked outrage in February 2006 by refusing to award the officer either the George Cross or even the Queen's Gallantry Medal.
Clive Chamberlain, the chairman of the Dorset Police Federation, who vowed to return his service medals in disgust at the original decision, said: "I'm delighted that they have decided to recognise Stephen Oake's selfless act of bravery.
"But I'm bitterly disappointed it's taken a five-year campaign for them to grudgingly award a Queen's Gallantry Medal."
Chris Burrows, chairman of the Greater Manchester branch of the Police Federation, said: "It would have been nice had the award been made much earlier."
Chief Con Fahy said: "The whole force is pleased that Stephen's great bravery has been recognised.
He added: “There’s obviously been a campaign very much led by my predecessor, Mike Todd, and supported by police officers across the country.
Comfort
"This particular award is of a particularly high level. We are pleased it has now come though.
"It was a very violent episode and Stephen Oake’s bravery has received due recognition. It is also some comfort for his family because of the stress they have been through.
"We are still one of the few forces in the world that are routinely unarmed. That’s a responsibility that British police officers carry and clearly we would hope that the honour system would recognise that and particularly the bravery of British police officers who have to demonstrate their bravery because they are routinely unarmed.
“I think police officers are today proud and pleased that an officer who has shown such bravery and who died in such tragic circumstances has been recognised for his courage.
“Clearly, there was a huge strength of feeling behind this particular case. I think it was frustrating it has taken this long.
"But the campaign has kept going and we are clearly very grateful for the assistance we have had from Sir Ronnie Flanagan, the Chief Inspector of Constabulary, whose review of the evidence made clear recommendations to the government.
"It’s frustrating it’s taken this long but we are glad now it has finally come through.”
When asked whether Stephen Oake deserved a George Cross, Mr Fahy added: “It’s a difficult issue.
"Clearly, we felt he did deserve a George Cross or we would not have put the application in. But it’s often a difficult matter of interpretation.
"It’s often a difficult thing to measure and evaluate. And to some degree there are people in government who are better placed to compare one incident of bravery with another where people have been given the George Cross. I think we have to be realistic about that.
"There’s a degree to which this decision-making process is shrouded in a little bit of mystery. It’s not a matter of huge public debate.”
The Cabinet Office said that following the refusal, the then Home Secretary John Reid ordered a report into the matter by Sir Ronnie Flanagan, Her Majesty's chief inspector of constabulary.
As a result, the committee stood by its original decision not to award the George Cross but decided to award the Queen's Gallantry Medal.
The campaign to salute hero copper
Tributes to cop killed in terror raid
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Why wasn't it reconised in the first place ? I would like to offer my opinion but this is the MEN website, so I have said enough already.
I am at a loss to work out the mentality of some of these committee members.
It's a medal, a token of respect and acknowledgement. So what if one act of bravery appears a little less gallant than another. This brave policeman and citizen gave his life doing what he thought was the right thing, and his duty.
I wonder what brave deeds those that tried to 'not honour him' have done in their lives.
I for one raise my hat, and give thanks to this brave man who died doing his duty.
Not before time.. it took them long enough to think about it...
Great news, about time.
I feel the idiotic PC Brigade may have had a hand in this. After all the terrorists were Islamic. Now we cannot upset these people now, can we?
If an Olympic athlete can get a medal for very little effort then this guy deserves the highest regard and the highest praise and acknowledgement.
My brother-in-law was a PC in the Metropolitan Police Force in London and was awarded the George Cross for disarming a man with a shotgun about 40 years ago. He deserved the award and lives to tell the tale. What is the difference in PC Oake's case - he should also have been awarded the George Cross. Hopefully it has nothing to do with location and/or force.
The establishment don't care about the opinions of Muslims - witness the knighthood given to Rushdie by Tony Blair.
Typical of this government, they give athletes and cricketers MBE and so on, at the drop of a hat, but this man, who gave his life for his workmates, has to wait years to see his memory honoured, despite a long public outcry. This is the least he deserved and shame on the nameless beaurocrats who took so long to award him this honour. God bless you DC Oake
Being in the police and doing these types of operations is the same as being in the army, he put his life on the line so I don't really see why Det Con Oake shouldn't have got his medal in the first place.
""Being in the police and doing these types of operations is the same as being in the army""
Ehh ???
Since when did the Police routinely use and carry guns - since when were they trained to shoot and kill people.
The Police are totally different from the Army...The Police gather evidence and arrest people - they operate most of the time on their own or in pairs, they don't tend to go abroad and fight wars, etc etc
Devil's A, Steve's dad was a Chief Constable and despite Tony Blair's efforts it still did not happen.
Now we have a more interesting debate, what about those personnel who have been killed in the line of duty from the army, RAF, navy, fire service etc, when do they become recognised as 'hero's'.
Some people's stories are pushed and others not, esch of them true heroes and representing this country to ensure the country's safety
and those within it.
What happened with the investigation into this?
If memory serves me right they didn't have body armour, didn'r handcuff the suspect and told him to wait in the kitchen (near a drawer with kinves etc).
Good to hear he has got a medal but too little too late really.
The police are trained in firearms small arms and machine gun to defend themselves against the enemy. The average infantry is trained using the types of weapon.
If you take the army man on patrol in a town village or city he is on the look out for the same thing as the police antiterrorist squad.
The army have to go into houses where terrorists' may be planning a crime and the police have to go into the same type of situation as what happened here.
The difference is the police go home at night. What about the police in spain who turned up at a terrorists flat to raid it and the terrorists blown the place up.
As far as I am concerned the police in these circumstances are doing the same job as what the army would do.
If the Army man went to protect his men by putting his life on the line then he would get a medal and so should the police.
Great news for the family of this officer, to be recognised at LAST for giving the ultimate for his country. Questions need to be asked about why this has taken so long, disgusting. The late GMP CC Michael Todd would have been very pleased at this result, he fought for this recognition on many occasions, and I find it shameful that the MEN did not see fit to mention that, but not to distract away from DC Oake, I salute you.
REST IN PEACE MICHAEL TODD AND STEPHEN OAKE
The decision-makers should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for even considering not recognising this man's bravery in the line of duty.
About time too.
At last, but it will not bring him back. The whole sad story seems to be one of a decent copper, doing his job faced with a fanantic in an unlikely place. Hope his family are happy with the award and know he has not been forgotten.
''REST IN PEACE MICHAEL TODD AND STEPHEN OAKE'' !!!
Stephen Oake died whilst serving the police and the community and the police force, not servicing the police force.
How dare you.
I do not believe awarding a medal to Mr Oaks now will be of any comfort to his family. By now the enormity of the loss of a husband , father , brother, son will be all apparent. Mr Oaks deserves his recognition for protecting you and I at the expense of himself and his family. Long past time..
This policeman failed to restrain the assailant. He wasn't wearing the correct kit and as a result he paid the ultimate price. If I did something wrong in my line of work and died as a result my family would be too embarassed to campaign for a medal. Why is this guy treated differently?
I agree with Rob of Audenshaw. It`s wrong to honour Stephen Oake in this way, it demeans the actions of other police officers who do/did not have the information Stephen Oake had.
He KNEW he was going to an address where there might be a terrorist suspect and the inherent danger that posed but CHOSE not to put on body armour on. All the rest of the team did, why not Stephen?
PC John Egerton was stabbed to death in 1982 when he "stumbled across" someone syphoning petrol in Farnworth. He didn`t know what to expect. He was awarded the Queen`s Commendation for Brave Conduct which is one below the award to Stephen
Oake.
The death of both officers is a tragedy but Stephen Oake`s could so easily have been avoided.
My condolences to the Oake family and I am glad he has been decorated but I shall be unpopular in calling into question the validity of the sensationalism of these events . 2 botched raids on the basis of flawed, torture extracted evidence of every Algerian Meguerba had met in the UK, led to the death of DC Oakes. 2 convictions for 'false passport possession' and Bourgass was charged with 'conspiracy to cause a public nuisance' along with his common law crimes of injury to 3 officers and the murder of DC Oakes. '22 Castor seeds, some apple pips , a coffee grinder, paper clips and brylcreem' were all that were found, confirmed by Porton Down as 'No Ricin' and ergo, no threat to anyone. The jurors waited 7 1/2 months for the prosecutions case to close and were 'open mouthed at the total absence of any evidence of terrorism'. DC Oakes death is a tragedy of botched attempts to prop up the lies and forgeries that launched the Iraqi occupation, and eroded civil liberties, which the Ricin lie was a pivotal part of. Will the M.E.N ever report on this with just the facts of a botched raid and a tragic stabbing? R.I.P DC Oakes.
Dave Pollard, wrote:
"He KNEW he was going to an address where there might be a terrorist suspect and the inherent danger that posed but CHOSE not to put on body armour on."
DC Oakes attended along with Immigration officials a routine matter of an overstayer - The "terrorist raid" is a media invention which was added later.
Re Charles Town`s comments, for his information the story is correct. GMP were given intelligence by the Met Police Terrorist Branch about the suspects and the perceived danger. That`s why the team went "kitted up". Why Stephen chose not to get "kitted up" also, we`ll never know.