POLICE officers who arrested an “unstable” and raging knifeman have been praised for their bravery.

PC Holly Gillespie and PC Alexandra Hagger were called to Elmore Road in Brighton after reports of a domestic violence incident.

They found a distressed man with his head in his hands in the kitchen, and 38-year-old Michael Hargreaves who was high on drugs.

Body-worn footage showed how the two women PCs attempted to speak with the men separately, but Hargreaves then grabbed a knife and threatened them.

They sprayed him, got the man out of the flat safely and called for back-up.

Hargreaves was high on GHB, a drug used by some gay men for “chemsex” which he claimed he had been given “involuntarily”, despite admitting he enjoyed using the drug recreationally.

The bare-chested thug appeared on the stairs and told officers “I’m on” as if challenging them.

But then he barricaded himself into the kitchen of the flat before PC Stephen Walker arrived and talked him out. At Lewes Crown Court, Hargreaves admitted two assaults on PCs and affray.

It was revealed he had been on bail for a domestic violence incident against his former partner at the same address a few weeks earlier, for which he was later sentenced to eight weeks in prison.

Hargreaves, of Downs Street, Bridport, Dorset, had previously been convicted of two attacks on a former partner, including dragging a man into a bedroom and holding a knife to his head.

He was jailed for one year and 11 months by Judge Mark Van Der Zwart, who praised the dedication and bravery of the officers.

The judge said: “I want to say a few words about the police officers in this case.

PC Gillespie and PC Hagger showed great bravery in seeking to disarm this angry, unstable defendant with a knife in a confined space during the coronavirus lockdown..

“Although it did not form part of the offences for which Michael Hargreaves has been sentenced, PC Stephen Walker deserves particular recognition. This was a disordered man shouting in a rage who was holding a knife in each hand. PC Walker would not have known what was on the other side of the kitchen door.

“He prevented harm to his colleagues, the public, and to the man himself who was threatening to self harm. PC Walker’s actions were the model of brave, calm and professional policing.”