Police officers have been praised for the dramatic rescue of a woman who had threatened to jump 30ft from a bridge on to the A23.

After spending several minutes persuading the 41-year-old to allow police to get near, an officer heroically jumped over the railings to catch the woman as she stepped forward to leap from the bridge leading to Langton Lane in Hurstpierpoint.

Meanwhile, other officers had arranged for a road closure to stop traffic.

The incident occurred at 4am on Saturday after police received a call from the psychiatric unit at the Princess Royal Hospital.

The woman had called hospital staff warning them she intended to jump under a lorry.

PC Will Hewson was one of four officers from Burgess Hill police station involved in the incident.

He said: "It was one of the most difficult situations to try to create a rapport. Thankfully we don't get those situations every day.

"She was a very vulnerable person, extremely distressed and frightened, sitting on the far side of the railings over both lanes of the north-bound carriageway.

"I managed to persuade her to let me come right by the railings. She put out her hand and I took hold of it, at which point she stepped forward to jump.

"I grabbed hold of her shirt and another officer jumped over the railings and threw her back."

Full of praise for the actions of his colleagues, PC Hewson said: "My section is a good team. We were very much on auto pilot.

"It took a few breaths to compose ourselves afterwards."

The three other officers involved were Neil Rumbill, Stuart Chaffer and Donna Fleming.

Insp Martin Pattendon, from Burgess Hill police station, said: "We are all very proud of the heroic and quick-thinking action of the officers involved."

The woman was detained at the station for assessment under the Mental Health Act.

Suicide is a major public health issue for the Sussex Partnership Trust, the NHS organisation responsible for mental health services in the region.

A suicide review group has been set up to assess whether deaths could be prevented with better clinical care. In 2004/05 there were 28 suicides involving trust service users.

The Government has ordered the trust to cut suicides by 20 per cent by 2010