Crowds watched in horror as a man stripped naked and headed for the edge of a 100ft cliff during a firework display.

Visitors to the Brighton Festival's Big Splash grand finale called the police when they the man - hobbling on crutches with his arm in plaster - climbing over a fence towards the cliff edge above Asda at the Brighton Marina on Sunday evening.

Onlooker Alan Cousins, 48, from Brighton, had stationed himself on the clifftop to get a good view of the fireworks.

He said: "The police were moving people away from the cliff edge. I saw him being carried off into the police car.

"The bloke I was speaking to said this man had stripped naked and run for the edge."

It was still daylight and dozens of families with children saw the drama unfold as they searched for the best vantage point for the fireworks.

Mr Cousins had first spotted the man, who is believed to have mental health problems, earlier that day.

He said: "I first went down to the marina at about 6.30pm and as I came up Arundel Road this guy was walking down on crutches, with his top off and his arm in plaster.

"I went back again at about 8.30pm and when the police carried him off I realised who it was."

The man, who had a beard and long hair, was originally wearing three-quarter-length trousers.

As people gathered on the cliff he suddenly whipped them off.

Police received four calls at about 8.30pm, saying there was a naked man walking towards the edge of the cliff.

Officers were already keeping an eye on crowds at the event so they arrived at the scene within five minutes of being called.

A spokesman for the police said the man walked back from the edge as soon as he saw officers approaching.

He said: "Somebody said there was a man with no clothes on the wrong side of the fence.

"As soon as we got there he came back. Perhaps he just wanted to get closer to the fireworks."

The man had discharged himself from the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton earlier that day and was returned by police to his ward.

A spokesman for the hospital said: "There is nothing we can do to stop a patient leaving the hospital unless it is someone under police guard or a psychiatric section order."

He could not confirm whether the man had been a psychiatric patient at the hospital.