A QUICK-THINKING roofer from Tadley told how he saved the life of a man who was injured after "tombstoning" from a Dorset cliff.

Peter Wood, of Barlows Road, was visiting the popular tourist attraction Durdle Door with his family and friends last Saturday when he saw a 26-year-old jump from the 65-foot rock into the sea.

Mr Wood, who had a small, motorised dinghy with him, sped into the water and brought the man back to shore before emergency services reached the scene.

Mr Wood, 30, was spending the day at the beach celebrating his sixth wedding anniversary and had taken the boat with him to go fishing.

He described how he was relaxing on the beach at about 3.45pm when he saw three men climbing the rock, before one - an unnamed man from Weymouth - jumped into the water.

Mr Wood said: "His chest and his face slammed into the water. It was a horrific noise. I knew at that point he wasn't coming out."

He quickly took his dinghy out to the spot where the daredevil had hit the water and called to a nearby swimmer to dive down and pull up the man, who he said was lying unconscious on the seabed.

Mr Wood then pulled the man into his boat.

He said: "At that point, his lips and face were blue and blood was coming out of his mouth."

He took him back to shore, where an off-duty doctor revived him before the emergency services arrived and airlifted the man to hospital in Dorchester.

Mr Wood added: "I didn't stop to think about it. As soon as he jumped, I thought he was going to hit the water all wrong because he was leaning forward.

"He's just so incredibly lucky."

Mr Wood's daughter Ellie, 11, said she was proud of her dad.

Ros Evans, watch manager at Portland Coastguard, said: "Young men are dying pointlessly and getting seriously injured every summer in a bid to impress their friends. Rescue services and the families of casualties deal with the consequences.

"This young man jumped from the top of the precarious cliff arch of Durdle Door from a height of at least 20 metres, so an injury was almost inevitable."

The 26-year-old's injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.

Two men and a woman who were with the cliff jumper fled after he was injured.