A soldier and dental nurse have been honoured for saving the life of a teenager slashed in the neck with a broken bottle.

Doctors say the 17-year-old victim from Cleckheaton - who has not been named - would have bled to death without the help of Mark Kershaw, 19, and Amie Walker, 21.

Mark, of Southcroft Avenue, Birkenshaw, and Amie, of Moorside, Cleckheaton, received St John Ambulance letters of commendation this week for giving first aid.

They were presented at Dewsbury police station by Superintendent Steve Banks, commander of Dewsbury police sub division.

Former mechanic Mark, a private in the Duke of Wellington Regiment, who was given special leave to attend the ceremony, said:

"I knew what to do straight away because of the training in first aid we are given in the Army.''

The teenager suffered a gash to his neck which severed his jugular vein during a disturbance in February last year.

He collapsed outside a takeaway in Horncastle Street, Cleckheaton, and lost a large amount of blood.

The youngster was unconscious for 48 hours in a critical condition in the intensive-care unit at Dewsbury and District Hospital. He has since made an almost complete recovery.

Amie was with a friend at the takeaway on the night and applied pressure to the victim's wound with a tissue. Then Mark took over until the ambulance crew arrived.

Mark, a former pupil of Whitcliffe Mount School in Cleckheaton, said: "I had been out at Foxy's Nightclub in Cleckheaton with some friends and decided to get something to eat from the kebab shop.

"I saw the man lying on the floor covered in blood. I got some tissues from the counter and applied pressure to his neck to stop the bleeding.

"I then shouted to a man behind the counter to phone for an ambulance. The victim was semi-conscious and I tried to reassure him he would be all right.''

Mark's mother, Wendy Kershaw, 44, said: "We are all very proud of him, especially when we found out he helped to save someone's life.''

A 16-year-old charged in connection with the incident is to appear at Bradford Crown Court in May.

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