A CRADLEY Heath man who gallantly chased down a hit-and-run driver is to receive a police bravery award.

Adrian Henefer helped police apprehend the driver and passenger as they tried to flee from a horrific collision in Coventry that killed two young brothers in February 2018.

The maintenance worker, 53 - described by the judge in the ensuing trial as a 'man of great courage and fortitude' - will receive a silver medal at the Police Public Bravery Awards in London later this year.

Adrian was fixing a bus stop on Longfellow Road in Coventry when a Ford Focus hit the two boys, Corey and Casper Platt-May, as they were on their way to the park with their mother and two brothers.

The car failed to stop and carried on, narrowly avoiding another car before stalling.

Adrian had seen the collision and immediately ran to the car and wrestled the keys from the driver, Robert Brown, as he attempted to restart it.

The driver and his passenger made off on foot but Adrian gave chase, fending off punches from Brown and an attack from the driver's passenger girlfriend Gwendoline Harrison, who swung a carrier bag filled with beer cans at him.

After momentarily letting go, Adrian chased again and, as the pair tried to scale a metal fence, he pulled Brown back down.

It was only when Brown began searching for a weapon on the ground that Adrian was finally forced to back off.

But he kept track of the pair and guided police officers to an alleyway where they were attempting to hide.

Ahead of his award later this year, Adrian was also recognised with a West Midlands Police Chief Constable’s Good Citizen Award at a special ceremony recently.

Brown was sentenced to 10 years in jail for causing the deaths of the two brothers by dangerous driving but was found dead in his prison cell at HMP Dovegate in Uttoxeter on Christmas Day 2018.

The trial found the 53-year-old career criminal had been travelling at more than twice the speed limit and had taken a cocktail of drugs when he mowed down the brothers, aged six and two.

Brown had never had a driving licence in his life and was banned from driving at the time of the crash, having accumulated 30 previous convictions for driving offences.

He was only released from prison six days before the crash, after serving half of a six-month sentence for having an offensive weapon.

Adding to the tragedy, the brothers' father Reece Platt-May was found dead at a Greek hotel three months after their death, believed to have taken his own life.