A Scout leader who saved a stabbing victim’s life said he was honoured to be nominated for the Outstanding Bravery category of the MyLocalHero awards.
Martin Magowan, who lived in Ruislip when the attack took place in July 2017, was waiting for a bus at Harrow bus station following a night out with friends when horrifying events unfolded.
Four men were stabbed and Martin managed to come to the aid of one of them by applying his Scouts training knowledge and using his shirt to stem the blood loss.
Martin spoke fondly of the moment he found out he was nominated, saying: “I spoke to MyNews at the beginning of January this year, I got the call while I was at the bank with my other half.
“I was quite surprised when I was told I was nominated because the incident happened quite a while ago. It’s really nice to have been nominated.
Describing the ordeal in July 2017, Martin, who is a first aider, said: ““It was quite late and I was waiting for a bus. There was no one around at all and I heard all this commotion and it got louder. As I ran up the road to see what was going on, I could see four guys dotted about.
“Three of them were grouped together and I took my shirt off and used it to stem the blood for the other man, who looked in a bad way. He seemed to have lost about two pints of blood already. I helped the man by talking to him and trying to keep him conscious until the paramedics arrived. I thought I’d lost him twice but he pulled through.”
Martin added that he wasn’t overly phased by the violent nature of the evening.
He said: “It rarely ever plays on my mind. I was a funeral director when I was younger, and I lived in Northern Ireland with violence and bombs going off, so I think because of those experiences I was almost used to it.”
The 34-year-old had some powerful words to add, saying: “I hate seeing people in trouble, I just want people to be helped.
“I didn’t really think about my actions that night, I just saw someone in trouble and wanted to help them. If my daughter had been in that situation, I’d have wanted someone to help her.
“I want us to all work together as a community and help one another out generally.
“I’ve moved away from Ruislip now, to Hillingdon, but I lived there for four years and I love the place. I actually felt really bad about leaving because I love the area so much and I just wanted to help people there. Hopefully I can do that here now too.”
Picture courtesy of Capel Goodwin Photography
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