British policeman saves woman from a 60-strong angry mob he feared would rape her

'My guess was that they’d rape her and there was a pretty high probability they’d kill her' - Inspector Kelvin Shipp

A United Nations peacekeeper keeps guard outside the Bor camp for the internally displaced in Bor town Jonglei state, South Sudan (Reuters)

A British policeman serving in South Sudan with the United Nations has saved a woman from an angry mob of 60 people smashing up her car.

Inspector Kelvin Shipp, 55, intervened after the gang started agitating around a female colleague's car when it collided with a motorcycle.

At the time of the incident, Insp Shipp had been serving a year-long deployment with the UN.

He had been driving to to UN House on the outskirts of Juba, the capital of South Sudan when he witnessed the collision and the ensuing anger.

The father-of-three, from Waterlooville in Hampshire, told The News in Portsmouth: “I thought ‘I can’t leave her here, if they get her out of the car she’ll get probably quite a beating’.

“My guess was that they’d rape her and there was a pretty high probability they’d kill her - and it was all over a minor accident.They were banging their fists on the windows, they were on the bonnet."

A Dutch officer joined him and the pair started to push through the baying crowd before Insp Shipp's Dutch colleague was targeted by six people and forced to run away.

The mob continued to batter the car and smashed the windscreen while the Hampshire policeman dragged and pushed people away.

Insp Shipp said he counted himself lucky to not be targeted throughout the violent confrontation.

He has been awarded a Chief Constable's commendation from Hampshire Police for his actions.

South Sudan is the world's youngest nation, gaining its independence in 2011. It has been devastated by civil war since 2013 with mass hunger and poverty rampant.