PC Amanda Phipps and her colleague PC Mark Robinson pulled over mum Mariam Traore, 32, when they believed she may have been drink-driving last August.

But it turned Mariam and her boyfriend were desperately trying to get to hospital as their two-week-old daughter Zara had stopped breathing.

Miss Traore told the Cawley News: "I had given Zara milk and my boyfriend was then holding her when he suddenly screamed my name and shouted that she couldn't breathe.

"I'd never heard him like that before. He sounded so scared. It was really bad, she was totally silent and her eyes went white. I was terrified."

The couple were so panicked that Miss Traore said they decided to drive straight to Crawley Hospital themselves rather than wait for an ambulance.

"I was sat in the passenger seat holding Zara feeling very very panicky, it was a bad experience," she added.

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"Zara wasn't breathing and she wasn't moving. I was crying, shouting and screaming in the car. We wanted to get to the hospital so badly that we didn't stop at the first set of traffic lights and we went through the second traffic lights as well.

"As we got to a third set of traffic lights it was then we heard the police sirens and knew we had to stop."

“She was not breathing and I just thought I had to get some air in, so I did some rescue breathing,” PC Phipps told the Mirror.

PC Robinson then drove to hospital while PC Phipps carried on saving Zara’s life.

She added: “After about the third breath the baby then made a movement and a little noise. I just looked at the mum and said, ‘that’s a good thing’ - I think I said it more for myself.

Zara is now 10 months old and fully recovered after spending three days in hospital while PC Amanda Phipps was honoured last week at the West Sussex Divisional Awards 2016.