TWO special constables who tackled a chef waving a two-foot long kebab knife during a late night street riot have each been awarded £500 for their courage and bravery.

And 30-year-old Veysel Kaya who was convicted of affray and possessing an offensive weapon was jailed for two years.

Exeter Crown Court heard how the special constables Rebecca Pithouse and Shane Gloyne arrived outside the Golden Horn takeaway restaurant in Exeter city centre to find a riot going on involving 30 to 40 people.

Miss Pithouse spotted Kaya kicking a man who was on the ground and curled up in a ball trying to defend himself. But when she approached Kaya produced the fearsome kebab knife and lunged at her.

Mr Gloyne was so worried for his colleague?s safety that he restrained Kaya without waiting for back up.

The court heard that Miss Pithouse was terrified at the time and since has been jumpy, nervous and suffered from loss of sleep. Mr Gloyne still suffered almost nightly nightmares about the incident.

Kaya, of Northfield Road, Okehampton, had pleaded not guilty to the two charges but was convicted by a jury earlier this month.

Passing sentence Judge Giles Harrap told Kaya: ?You were kicking a man on the ground and when the officer tried to intervene you squared up to her and lunged at her with the kebab knife causing her terror and real fear. But for the intervention of her colleague she might have been seriously injured.

?I accept that you had to flee from your country and as a Turkish Kurd your family suffered some persecution. I also accept that you did not instigate the violence, but the courts cannot tolerate retaliatory violence and cannot tolerate the escalation of violence on the streets.

?You must be punished for your behaviour with the knife that night and others must be deterred from taking such knives onto the streets and threatening other people with them.?

In making the awards to the two special constables Judge Harrap praised them for the way they had acted with bravery and courage on that night.