Five police officers who dealt with an “appalling, violent and unprovoked attack” beside the M40 have been given awards.

The Thames Valley Police officers were recognised by chief constable Jason Hogg for their “exceptional performance” during the incident in 2020.

PC Martin Woodford, who was punched and stamped on during the attack, said: “This was a traumatic and painful event so to receive this helps and puts closure on the incident for me.”

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On August 20, 2020, PCs Woodford and Phil Duthie, from the Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit, stopped a speeding Renault Clio between junctions eight and nine of the M40 in Oxfordshire.

When the vehicle stopped, an altercation broke out between the driver, Morgan Culshaw, and the two officers on the side of the busy motorway.

PC Woodford was punched and stamped on, being rendered temporarily unconscious, while PC Duthie was punched to the head and bitten.

Culshaw sprayed PC Woodford with his own incapacitant sprays before driving off from the scene.

When he was spotted by PC Mark Sanders and special constable Craig Livingstone, Culshaw attempted to turn the wrong way on the motorway.

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Fearing the vehicle would travel against the flow of traffic, PC Sanders collided with the car but was unable to stop it driving the wrong way down the hard shoulder.

PC Sanders followed the car to warn other motorists.

Chief inspector Euan Livingstone was off duty in his own car on the M40 when he saw the events unfold. At risk to his own safety, he drove onto the hard shoulder in an attempt to stop the car.

Culshaw later crashed into a ditch and fled on foot, before he was finally arrested by armed officers near to the scene.

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Culshaw, aged 28, of Pennywell Drive, Oxford, was found guilty by a jury of two counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, dangerous driving, theft, and possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence at Oxford Crown Court on August 19, 2021, after a trial.

Chief inspector Chris Spellerberg said: “This was an appalling, violent and unprovoked assault on our officers, who were patrolling the motorway network, keeping our roads safe.

“Culshaw put our officers and other road users in serious danger, driving the wrong way down the motorway, making every effort to evade police, stealing police captor spray and inflicting serious assaults on both PCs Duthie and Woodford.

“Our officers genuinely feared for their lives as they attempted to restrain Culshaw on the side of a busy live running motorway.”

He added: “Nothing can ever justify the violence that Culshaw inflicted on PCs Woodford and Duthie that day.”