‘The uniform isn’t the shield it was’

A Cork Garda who was shot at multiple times by a gunman after stopping his van at a checkpoint, said she was “honoured” to receive a Silver Scott Medal for “exceptional courage and bravery” after she tried to disarm the man, before he took his own life.

Sergeant Deborah Marsh, from Bishopstown, who was based at Tipperary Garda Station at the time, wrestled with the armed man after she and a colleague stopped his van in Lackamore, Newport, Co Tipperary, on January 30, 2012.

Moments after they stopped the van, Sgt Marsh and Garda Gerard Brassil of Newport Garda Station, who was also presented with a Silver Scott Medal, found themselves in a ferocious fight for their lives. “When I went to arrest him he produced a shotgun.