FOUR West Devon men have been singled out for special awards, following their bravery in two frightening incidents within the last 18 months.

The men were presented with commendations at the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police Constabulary?s awards ceremony, held at Torquay recently.

Chagford resident Geoffrey Stevens, 46, who was praised for an ?incredibly brave act?, was also honoured by the Royal Humane Society.

In September 2001, an 81-year-old woman failed to stop her car while parking, pushing 10-month-old Morgan Philpott and his pram through a shop window in Chagford.

Seeing the glass was about to fall on Morgan, Mr Stephens covered the child and pushchair with his own body. As he did so, a large piece of glass fell on him and he received a severe cut to his face requiring two hours of surgery and resulting in more than 40 stitches.

Morgan suffered a serious cut to his head which required surgery, and a minor one to his face.

Morgan?s mother, Sharon Philpott, said the family would ?always be in debt to Geoffrey for what he did?.

?If it had not been for Geoffrey we would have lost our little baby. He is Morgan?s guardian angel,? she said.

Mr Stephens said the award came out of the blue.

He said: ?It is very nice to know what people thought about me, but I really did it for the little boy. Anybody would have done the same thing.?

Mr Stephens also won personal praise from the secretary of the Royal Humane Society, Major General Christopher Tyler.

He said: ?This was an incredibly brave act on the part of Mr Stephens. He could easily have been killed. However, he put all thoughts of his own safety out of his mind in order to ensure that the little boy was safe.

?He richly deserves this award, which is one of the highest we give.?

The driver of the vehicle that crashed into the shop surrendered her licence.

And three Tavistock men have received commendations, after they rescued a man from a serious fire in a flat in West Street last May.

Andrew Honey, 20, raised the alarm at around 11pm, after realising the flat below his was on fire and full of thick, black smoke.

He rushed to get help from friends Sebastian Roberts, 20, and John Hooker, also 20.

Inspector Nick Rogers of Tavistock Police said: ?The three of them ran back into the building and up to the flat.

?They effected a forcible entry into the flat via kicking in the front door ? it was evident that this was a potentially life-threatening situation.

?There was thick smoke, which caused them inhalation problems.?

The three men managed to get the occupant of the flat, who was in a dazed and confused condition, out of the burning flat.

After the incident, Tavistock fire chief Chris Neale said anyone in such smoky conditions would be unlikely to survive for much longer than five minutes.