A HERO who leapt into the middle of a violent attack and wrenched a knife from a man's hand will receive one of the highest bravery awards in the country.

Grange Williams, 43, from Millfield Gardens, Poppleton, disarmed the man and held him until police arrived after watching him chase another man with the weapon in his hand.

He is one of only three people in the country to be given a national bravery award at the Association of Chief Police Officers' summer conference in Torquay next week.

The victim, who later died, had been stabbed more than seven times.

The attack was continuing when Mr Williams intervened.

Mr Williams, a molecular biologist at St James' Hospital in Leeds, was passed by the men as he walked from work last summer. He saw the victim being caught by the armed chaser.

He said: "It was almost like everything was in slow motion. It was like something out of a soap opera - it was 5pm on a summer's evening, broad daylight on a busy road and here was someone being attacked with a knife."They were behind a wall and the victim was trapped underneath his attacker while he plunged the knife into him over and over again.

"I had often thought about what I would do in that sort of situation, but I didn't think about it at all at the time. I was aware that this man was seriously injured and his attacker wasn't about to stop.

"I grabbed his arm and wrenched it back and pulled the knife out of his hand.

"The strange thing was his aggression went then. It was like he knew the game was up and it was quite easy to stop him from running away."

Mr Williams was himself injured as he grabbed the knife, and needed stitches to a cut on his hand.It was later discovered the attacker suffered from mental problems.

Mr Williams was nominated for the award by West Yorkshire Police.