A WOMAN was taken to hospital after she was rescued from close to the cliff edge at Brighton Marina.

Police were called to the scene yesterday at 4.18pm.

The pavement and cycle lane above Asda was cordoned off, while the A259 was closed after reports the woman was standing on the cliff edge.

A Sussex Police spokesman said: "The woman was detained under the 136 Mental Health Act. She was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital just after 7.30pm."

One eyewitness, a man who did not wish to be named, said: "I was told she had been there for an hour and a half by the time I arrived at 6pm.

"It appeared two police negotiators had been trying to convince the woman to come back from the edge.

"For all that time there were moments when I thought she was going to go over, then, thankfully, she moved a couple of feet away from the edge."

Meanwhile another eyewitness said: "There was someone sitting on the other side of the fence close to the edge and police experts were trying to talk them down."