British bases police officers on Friday praised the quick thinking and bravery of a child for using the international hand signal for distress which led to their father being sentenced to 25 months in Dhekelia prison in September.

“Officers were given an anonymous tip-off that shouting could be heard coming from a house in the Dhekelia area but, once at the scene, the family of the man would not speak,” the bases said.

According to the bases police, “the family, whose details have not been disclosed, appeared to not want to cooperate before officers noticed one of the four children making facial expressions and using hand gestures.”

“After recognising the signals, the man was immediately arrested and taken into custody,” detective inspector Fanos Christodoulou said.

Reflecting on the case this week and following a period of time to allow the family to come to terms with what happened, the detective inspector said “this was obviously a highly distressing situation for the family, one that could very easily have continued.”

“It took a great deal of bravery for the child to communicate with our officers and I am relieved that the police on the scene were able to identify the hand gestures and get the family to safety.”

The international hand signal for distress is made by holding the hand up with the thumb tucked into the palm and then folding the four fingers down to cover the thumb.