Two teenage pals told today how they snatched to safety a woman threatening to jump from the top floor of a multi-storey car park.

Shaun Gordon, 16, and Gavin Reynoldson, 17, were hailed as heroes after rescuing the woman after she climbed over railings at Teville Gate, Worthing.

The boys were returning from a gym workout at the Sidney Walter Centre, in Sussex Road, at 7.45pm when they spotted the woman.

Gavin, of King Edward Avenue, Worthing, said: "She was leaning forward with just one hand on the railing."

Gavin and Shaun called the police on their mobile phone before springing into action themselves.

Gavin added: "We thought we had better do something quick.

"I went up the stairs and noticed a door right next to the woman but I knew if I opened it she might get scared and jump.

"Shaun was now up at the top and talked to her.

"It was as if she was drunk, though. She didn't seem to take any notice of us. She threatened to jump but Shaun just said if she jumped he would go as well. She said she didn't care.

"Then I saw the police pull up in the car park and I could sense she was starting to fall down, so Shaun grabbed her by the coat and pulled her back."

PC Paul Groves and PC Sarah Loveland helped lift the woman back over the railings.

Gavin added: "Nobody else would help. People were looking at her and walking on.

Shaun, of Ruskin Road, Worthing, attends Worthing Sixth Form College with Gavin.

The woman, in her mid-twenties, was returned to Homefield Hospital, where she is a patient.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.