An off-duty police officer who helped save the life of a teenager is to be given a national award.

PC David Gilmore had spent three hours searching in vain with colleagues for a 17-year-old female who had gone missing in the snow from her home in Uckfield.

As he walked home at 11pm on January 18 he heard screams from a nearby house and saw through a window a man leaning over an unconscious girl who had her arm in a sling.

He began knocking at the door and was about to break it down when it was finally opened by an upset woman.

When PC Gilmore went inside he realised that the unconscious female was the missing person he had been searching for.

Just minutes before he had been passing by, the teenager had returned home and said she had banged her head while out.

She had collapsed at home and her family had been trying to rouse her on the sofa but she had begun choking.

PC Gilmore got her on the floor, put her in the recovery position, cleared her airway and called for an ambulance.

The teenager was taken to hospital to be treated.

Fellow officers passed the details of the incident to the Royal Humane Society which has decided to honour PC Gilmore with a certificate of commendation for his actions.

PC Gilmore, who is now stationed at Hastings, said: "I didn't know where the missing girl lived so it was even more of a surprise when I realised the female in the house was her.

"I was only walking in the area because the weather was so bad it was safer on foot than to drive home.

"I'm just glad I was able to help the teenager when she needed it."