POLICE officer Alice Beer has described how she was ‘scared for her life’ when violent Guy Pottle smashed a vodka bottle in her face and tried to throw her off a balcony.

Pottle, who has been jailed for more than 10 years for attempted grievous bodily harm, lashed out as PC Beer tried to stop him from jumping from the first floor of a block of flats in Drake Road, Newton Abbot in February.

She was temporarily blinded by the blood on her face as Pottle punched her and tried to push her over the balcony railing, but managed to hold on until a colleague came to her aid.

The attack happened after she and a colleague were called to reports of a woman being assaulted.

A neighbour let PC Beer into the building, but the communal door automatically locked before the other officer could follow her inside.

Running upstairs, she saw Pottle had climbed over the railing of the first-floor balcony walkway, and said her ‘only thought’ was to prevent him from jumping.

“I ran up to him and held on to his arm, telling him to not do it. He locked eyes with me, and I saw that he was holding a large bottle of vodka, and he hit me round the face with it.

“It exploded everywhere and caused cuts to my face. He then came back over the railings and shouted at me, he was continuing to try and attack me, he made several attempts to push me over the railings and at one time he was extremely close to succeeding - I had no point of contact apart from my hands on the rail preventing me from falling.

“I was scared for my life, but I knew I had to keep going until my crewmate or someone else could get to me and help me out. “

The incident was captured on PC Beer’s bodyworn camera, and a splash of her blood can be seen on the lens.

She was treated in hospital for facial cuts, large bruises on her arm and a chipped tooth, and was off work for six weeks.

But she was keen to get back to work with her colleagues - who she described as ‘amazing’ - and has returned to the same emergency response role in Newton Abbot.

PC Beer said: “It’s a risky job and I’m not going to hide away from the fact that we are faced with violence every day.

“However, everyone should be able to do their job and not be assaulted, especially at this level.”