A regional daily paper helped set in motion a chain of events which led to an anonymous hero receiving a prestigious bravery award.

The youngster, 16 at the time, rescued an unconscious woman from a live railway track at East Worthing Station just seconds before a high speed train which would have probably killed her passed through.

After checking an ambulance had been called, he sped off on his bike to his dad's birthday party without leaving his name and most likely unaware of the magnitude of his feat.

An appeal was put in Brighton-based daily The Argus to see if anyone knew who the 'hoodie hero' was.

A few days later Carl Duval's father contacted the Newsquest daily to reveal the mystery man's identity which eventually led to him receiving a Pride of Britain award from two Spice Girls on Wednesday night.

Assistant news editor Damien Pearse told HoldtheFrontPage: "We put a picture in the paper from the CCTV footage of the rescue.

"That went in two days later and then the father spoke to reporter Miles Godfrey.

"We arranged a follow-up picture with the hero hoodie and it triggered dozens of internet responses praising the guy.

"This generated enough publicity so that he was later put forward for the Pride of Britain award."

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