A BRAVE off-duty Islington PCSO who risked her life to save a woman from a gang while in her pyjamas was commended for her courage on Monday.

Police Community Support Officer Nadia Shahumi jumped out of bed and raced to the woman’s aid after hearing her screams – in just flip flops and Snoopy pyjamas.

She found the woman struggling with two men and pushed them away. More gang members emerged from shadows and one pulled a knife and began waving it around, but she managed to pull the woman away to safety and eventually flagged down a passing police car.

PCSO Shahumi, of Islington’s Safer Transport Team, performed the heroic deed near her home in Borough, south London, in June last year. She said: “I was trying to go to sleep when I heard a lot of shouting and screaming. I was not really thinking about my own safety, I was just trying to get the woman away from them. When the knife came out, that’s when I thought we’ve really got to get out of here. I would not like to think what could have happened to her if I had not been there.”

After the attack two men were caught and arrested for assault and affray. The victim’s 11-year-old daughter had previously been attacked by the gang.

PCSO Shahumi was among a group of more than 20 officers, volunteers and members of the public who were commended for their bravery and sterling work by Islington’s borough commander Chief Superintendent Mike Wise on Monday, at the Honourable Artillery Company headquarters in City Road, Finsbury.