TWO unarmed policewomen who overpowered a trio of gunmen have been nominated for a National Police Bravery Award.

PCs Katie Harvey and Kelli Walker were suddenly confronted by the gang when they answered a silent 999 call in Bournemouth.

Now their bravery, first revealed in the Daily Echo, has won the nomination and a visit to Number 10 Downing Street.

The officers will find out if they have won at the Savoy Hotel in London on July 7.

They entered the house on Castle Lane West in December 2009 to find a young father stripped, bound and bloodied, and straddled by one of the gang, who was pointing a gun at his terrified victim.

PC Walker told the Echo afterwards: “It was only after the incident that we realised the enormity of the situation and what the consequences could have been.”

She shouted at the man to drop the gun and then grappled it from his grip and placed it on the floor.

Then she told the second gang member not to move – and when he tried to escape through the patio door, PC Walker used her incapacitant spray as a deterrent.

More police began to arrive and the third gang member, who tried to escape from the lounge, gave up. A second gun was found in the lounge.

The gang were all wearing fluorescent jackets and had fake police IDs. The victim had been tied up with a cable, had a cloth stuffed in his mouth and had been beaten.

Edgaras Plosenko, 26, was jailed for 10 years for aggravated burglary, with a further year added to his sentence for possession of an imitation firearm with intent.

Aleksey Iskritsky, 26, and Robertas Beniulis, 34, both received eight-year sentences for aggravated burglary and one year each for possession of an imitation firearm with intent.