A shopping centre security manager has been honoured for his bravery during the Bradford riots.

Mirko Maric closed down the Kirkgate Centre with hundreds of shoppers inside only minutes before a marauding mob tore through the city.

He and a security guard also dragged a bleeding man to safety after he was attacked by a gang of youths.

The 35-year-old's actions have earned him the Yorkshire Security Officer of the Year (Outstanding Act Category) award from the British Security Industry Association.

On Monday, March 25, Mr Maric will be presented with his certificate at a ceremony in Manchester.

Two of his security officers will also collect the Yorkshire Security Team of the Year award on behalf of their colleagues for their actions last July 7.

But for Mr Maric the riot was a frightening snapshot of the violence which forced him to flee his war-torn homeland in Yugoslavia.

A former soldier, Mr Maric fled Bugojno near Sarajevo in Bosnia in 1992 with his parents and sister after war broke out.

He said: "I've seen riots in Yugoslavia before. When the war started I saw so many bad things happen. I think because I'd experienced a riot before I reacted quickly.

"There were more than 500 people in the centre when we closed it and we tried to move them towards the basement area away from the doors.

"At one point the man who was stabbed was outside the centre's Godwin Street entrance being tended by two lads.

"They were shouting for help but everybody was running past.

"I decided to open the doors and myself and a security guard pulled him inside and two of my guards gave him first aid before they called an ambulance.

"It was about two to three hours before the police gave us the green light to let the last shoppers go but everyone got away safely."

Mr Maric, who works for Chubb Security Personnel, will now go forward to the national finals of the BSIA awards in July.

The Kirkgate Centre's manager Cather-ine Riley said: "His decisiveness in closing down the centre and guiding people away from potential danger areas saved more than 500 members of the public from possible harm."