Barry teens praised for helping missing dementia patient

Shanae (left) and Carys (right) helped a man who was struggling to walk on Harbour Road in Barry on Saturday

Four teenagers who helped a missing dementia patient have been commended by police.

Shanae, Carys, Tiana and Teaghan spotted a man struggling to walk on Barry's Harbour Road on Saturday.

Twins Tiana and Teaghan, 15, said the man asked them to help, saying he had hypothermia.

They were then joined by Shanae, 15, and Carys, 14 - Shanae and Carys began trying to flag down cars while Tiana and Teaghan called an ambulance.

After about 20 minutes, an unmarked police car stopped and the man was taken to hospital.

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"If it were not for me and my friends, God knows where he would have ended up," Shanae said.

"He could have collapsed on the floor and might not have been here today."

The teenagers flagged down cars and called for an ambulance

The girls believed that he had been wandering from 08:00 GMT that morning until they found him about 12 hours later.

"I could tell he was in a lot of distress and I could tell he needed help, and when you see someone like that you need to help," Shanae told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast.

She said he was "drifting off and going into fits" and was shaking so she tried to calm him down.

Her grandfather had dementia and she hopes her late grandmother would be proud of her.

"I hope my nan would be looking down and thinking I was a good person for helping someone," the Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Morgannwg pupil said.

Carys, from St Athan, Vale of Glamorgan, said: "Anything could have happened because of the way he was. He was quite distressed."

Shanae was one of four girls who stopped to help a dementia patient

She added: "We just tried to talk to him, keep him calm, make sure he was okay, because he was looking a bit faint."

Tiana and Teaghan's uncle, Ken Walters, added thay he was proud of the girls for stopping to help.

South Wales Police thanked them for helping and said the man had dementia and had been reported missing.

PCSO Dominic Bury said: "The girls stayed with the man for a period of time in awful weather, ensuring he was OK until they could get help.

"They contacted the ambulance service and flagged down officers who returned the man to hospital safe and well."

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