Dramatic Durham River Wear rescue

Jul 29 2009 by Neil McKay, The Journal

A RETIRED police officer and two students recounted yesterday how they plunged into a cold, debris-strewn river to try to save a drowning woman.

Pals Michael Perkins and Peter Lawley were enjoying a picnic with Peter’s girlfriend, Sarah Denton, on the bank of the River Wear beneath the cathedral in Durham when they were alerted by shouts from pensioner John Davies, 72, on Monday morning.

Mr Davies then stripped to his underpants and jumped into the River Wear and swam across to the stricken woman.

Michael, 19, studying environment and geography at York University, also jumped in, while Peter, 21, from Low Fell, Gateshead, raised the alarm by dialling 999 on his mobile.

He then jumped in himself to help carry the now unconscious woman to the riverbank.

Michael, of Bishop Auckland, County Durham, said: “I thought she was dead. It was only when we got to the riverbank that police and later paramedics gave her first aid.

“The current was strong and I was swimming against it. There were also logs and tree branches banging against my head. If it hadn’t been for the retired police officer the girl would have drowned.

“The water was deep, more than 10 feet.”

Mr Davies, the former officer in his home village of Catchgate, near Stanley, County Durham, who used to train lifeguards for Durham Police, said he was walking along the opposite river bank to Michael and Peter with his wife Joan.