British police inspector, 55, is hailed a hero after saving woman from being raped and murdered by 60-STRONG mob in wartorn South Sudan

A British police inspector has been hailed a hero after saving a woman from being raped and murdered by a 60-strong angry lynch mob in war-torn South Sudan.

Inspector Kelvin Shipp, 55, was on a year-long deployment with the United Nations in the African country when he came across the barbaric scene.

The unarmed father-of-three spotted the group trying to smash their way into the woman's car, quickly intervened and bravely fought them off.

Inspector Kelvin Shipp (pictured) has been hailed a hero after saving a woman from being raped and murdered by a 60-strong angry lynch mob in war-torn South Sudan

The mob were banging on the car's windows in an attempt to get her out and seriously harm her but Inspector Shipp's courageous efforts meant she stayed safe until South Sudanese police arrived.

Now Inspector Shipp, of Southsea, Hampshire, has been awarded a chief constable's commendation for his brave and selfless actions.

He is one of around 100 top British officers in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's stabilisation unit who can be deployed to countries worldwide for various missions.

He was deployed in Juba, South Sudan, from September 2014 to September 2015 during the country's ongoing civil war.

His role in the broken country was to establish neighbourhood policing and train South Sudanese police officers who were operating in the civil war.

Inspector Shipp, formerly a neighbourhood inspector in Waterlooville, near Portsmouth, was on a 40-minute drive to UN House on the outskirts of Juba before challenging the gang.

He spotted a woman - who was a colleague from the UN - sitting helplessly in her car as she was swarmed by the mob.

Now Inspector Shipp, of Southsea, Hampshire, has been awarded a chief constable's commendation for his brave and selfless actions in South Sudan (pictured)

The group had become violent and angry towards the woman because her car had collided with a motorbike rider.

Inspector Shipp said that officers were advised not to assist after crashes as there is a high chance of volatile crowds forming, yet he decided to intervene after seeing the danger his colleague was in.

Angry South Sudanese locals were climbing on the car bonnet and banging on the windows to try to get the woman out, with a high probability she would be raped and murdered, according to Inspector Shipp.

He pushed his way through the crowd and bravely fought them off by repeatedly dragging them off the car.

A Dutch officer from the UN also arrived and was able to help Inspector Shipp, although the Dutchman was singled out by a large group of the attackers and was forced to run away.

Inspector Shipp, who is from Hampshire Constabulary, said: 'My conservative estimate was there were about 60 people around this vehicle.

Inspector Kelvin Shipp, 55, was on a year-long deployment with the United Nations in the African country when he came across the barbaric scene

'I thought "I can't leave her here, if they get her out of the car she'll get probably quite a beating".

'My guess was that they'd rape her and there was a pretty high probability they'd kill her - and it was all over a minor accident.

'They were banging their fists on the windows, they were on the bonnet. Not surprisingly the woman was in there pretty distressed on the phone.

'I got out of the car and pushed my way through the crowd. At the same time a Dutch officer arrived and he was there.

'We were pushing these people back and then six or seven singled him out. He had to run to get away. And it left me in there with this mob.

'They managed to smash the windscreen of this car trying to get in to this woman.

'All I was trying to do was drag them off and push them off as best I could, getting pushed and shoved. Luckily they weren't really focused on me.'

Inspector Shipp added: 'It was quite a frightening situation.

'I knew I was isolated. Here in the UK it might be frightening but you can hear on the radio the control room and units being called up.'

John Wallace, police function manager at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office's stabilisation unit, said: 'He showed a lot of courage by going out and going to the aid of a UN officer, who probably would have been lynched.

'They were going to cause her serious harm.'

Reading Inspector Shipp's award citation, Chief Superintendent David Hardcastle, of Hampshire Constabulary, said: 'His actions prevented the escalation of an extremely sensitive and volatile situation.'