Drowned police heroes remembered 42 years after Gynn Square sea tragedy in poignant video
Watch as Lancashire service workers and families remembered three heroic PCs who drowned trying to save a holidaymaker from the sea 43 years ago in Blackpool.
Police, coastguard and other emergency services gathered to pay respects to three fallen heroes who tragically died while trying to save a dog walker from drowning in the sea.
PCs Angela Bradley, Gordon Connolly, and Colin Morrison, were remembered by colleagues and family, at a poignant ceremony, held at Gynn Square on 5th Jan, 2026.
Highlights from the memorial service can be viewed in the above video.
Deputy Chief Constable Sam Mackenzie addressed a large crowd in the Jubilee Gardens, as he recounted the selfless actions of the three officers who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.
Wreaths were laid, and family threw roses into the sea, in a moving tribute to the heroes.
Brave sacrifice in failed rescue attempt
On January 5, 1983, a Scottish holidaymaker had been walking along the Blackpool coast near Gynn Square. 25-year-old Alistair Anthony was with his terrier, Henry, along the prom.
Despite desperate rescue efforts from his father and local civilians, it was the selfless intervention of the three officers that ended in heartbreak, while PC Abram was miraculously pulled from the water and revived by a doctor who happened to be passing the scene.
The tragedy began when 25-year-old Alistair Anthony from Glasgow left his parents’ holiday flats in Wilton Parade with his father Robert for a walk on the seafront. Anthony threw a ball for Henry, his Jack Russell terrier, and when it bounced into the sea the dog followed. Alistair, a hefty man and a good swimmer, stripped to his underpants and waded along the seawall apron. A wave swept him off his feet but he swam to a concrete slope then found he could not get out of the water.
Police tried to save man struggling in water
His father threw him a lifebelt but lost his grip on the line. Would-be rescuers once had Alistair clear of the waves, suspended mid-air, when the rope snapped, and he dropped back into the sea. Four police officers, driving separate Panda cars, were fast on the scene.
Survivor PC Pat Abrams saw traffic bobby PC Colin Morrison flash past, through a red light, siren screaming, at Talbot Square. Pat, with just minutes to go before his shift ended, joined PC Gordon Connolly, 24, and WPC Angela Bradley, 25, racing to the Middle Walk. They roped up, Pat wearing the lifebelt, in their first attempt to reach Alistair. Pat entered the sea and got within 6ft but the line fell short. They returned to the slade, then made the fateful decision to try again, Gordon holding on to the lifeline, which Angela had wrapped around her waist, and Pat wearing the lifebelt.A rogue wave swept them off their feet. Pat went under and was banged against the wall. He came up to see Angela being buffeted against the wall. Gordon was near her.
Fight to revive officers
He later recalled, “I never saw him again.” Then he saw a day-glo jacket in the water. “It was Colin Morrison. He was in a bad way. He gasped: ‘We’re done for.’” Pat told him to hang on, the lifeboat was coming. He fought to keep a grip on Colin, fully clothed and heavy, and offered him the lifebelt. “But Colin said, ‘no, just keep me up.’” A statement to the inquest, with Pat still in hospital, told how the struggle ended when he realised he was holding a dead man afloat. Pat was hauled from the sea by the lifeline tangled around his neck. The risk of strangulation, even a broken neck, was deemed an acceptable risk.
Medics failed to find a pulse and fought to revive him. They included Dr John Frankland, a cave rescue expert who just happened to be passing on his way home to Lancaster. PC Martin Hewitson, 28, was also battered by the waves as he went to the bottom of the slade to throw a lifebelt to the group in the water. He was later hospitalised for shock. For three hours, the Fleetwood lifeboat could not get within 75 yards of the sea wall, while the inflatable dinghy which replaced Blackpool’s lifeboat three years earlier couldn’t be launched.PC Morrison’s body was recovered by a winchman lowered from a helicopter. Angela’s body was recovered from a sandbank at Preesall days later and Mr Anthony’s body was found at Knott End on January 14. PC Connolly was not found until January 27.
The tragedy shocked the resort and made news around the world.
Watch the video above.