TRAINEE paramedic Colin Barber will today be publicly honoured after he tried to save the life of a woman in a notorious murder case.

He is to receive a Special Commendation from the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Greater Manchester, Mr Duncan Lawton OBE. The award ceremony is at Bolton's Reebok Stadium.

Mr Barber (30) of Robertson Street, Radcliffe, was working as an ambulance care assistant, driving a patient home from a routine hospital appointment, when he was faced with a life-and-death emergency.

Together with his colleague Sean Brady (35) of Victoria Street, Ramsbottom, he was flagged down in Prestwich by a police officer at the scene of a crime to see if they could help a woman who had been shot.

"I think they thought we were an emergency ambulance, but we still stopped to see if we could help," he said.

"The patient had lost an awful lot of blood as she had been shot in the neck, but we did our very best to save her."

The victim was Mrs Diane Pritchard (41) who was gunned down by her son-in-law, Christopher Pomeroy, outside her Northurst Drive home in July 2000. Pomeroy also shot his pregnant wife, Joanne, before hanging himself.

Using the limited equipment on board the non-emergency ambulance, Mr Barber and Mr Brady tried to resuscitate the woman while an emergency vehicle was en route.

Once the paramedics arrived minutes later, Sean and Colin continued to help in any way they could. Colin even travelled in the ambulance to assist the treating paramedic while Sean carried on with their original journey.

Sadly, despite their efforts, Mrs Pritchard died. But the incident encouraged both Sean, who will also be awarded a Special Commendation, and Colin to apply to the Paramedic Emergency Service and both are now technicians training to become paramedics.

Blackley-born Mr Barber, whose wife Deborah, was the 1999 Bury Times Newspaper Group's Bride of the Year, said: "Before joining the service I was a bus driver, but I wanted a career that offered something different and with this job you never know what's going to happen from one day to the next. It's also a job which allows you to offer direct help to people, which is very rewarding."

John Burnside, chief executive of Greater Manchester Ambulance Service, praised both workers for their actions and ability to stay calm in a crisis.

He said: "Considering Colin and Sean had no experience of emergency ambulance work, they coped admirably with such a traumatic situation. We are proud to have people of their calibre in GMAS and I am glad they have now developed their skills further in emergency care. They both wholly deserve this accolade."

Reflecting on the drama, Mr Barber said: "I don't think I've ever had an incident to compare with that one, even since I moved over to the emergency side."

In addition to their commendations the two workmates have another reason to celebrate as they have both recently become fathers.