A paramedic saved a man who threatened to jump off a cliff after demanding police stayed away.

Nikki Peck, who answers emergency calls at the Lewes-based ambulance control centre, kept the man talking on his mobile phone while rapid response paramedic Ray Mazhindu was sent to the scene.

Mr Mazhindu spent an hour trying to reassure the man, who had called the ambulance service as he stood on the edge of the cliff overlooking Brighton Marina on Sunday.

The man threatened to jump and demanded police should not come anywhere near him.

Miss Peck had only been doing her job for three weeks following six weeks' training. She was on the phone for about 15 minutes trying to keep the man calm.

She said: "The call came through on the phone and he was threatening to jump. I asked him why and he just said he had had enough. He told me a lot of personal details.

"He said, 'you do not care' and I said we do care. We talked about growing up and the job he had, to keep him talking. He was very drunk.

"I was trying to reassure him. I said 'if you jump I will be personally sorry'."

The man, aged 31, had a bottle of vodka with him and was so close to the edge he was kicking the stones off.

When Mr Mazhindu's rapid response car arrived, Miss Peck had to reassure the man it was not a police car.

However, police waited round the corner as Mr Mazhindu turned up with his trainee paramedic Antonio Simmons. An ambulance was sent to the bottom of the cliff.

Mr Mazhindu and Mr Simmons spent almost an hour talking to the man, who was standing in between the cliff edge and the fence.

The man explained he had been going through a family crisis.

Mr Mazhindu said: "I explained to him the distance probably would not kill him. I explained to him I would do everything in my power to make sure he lived."

His persuasion eventually worked and the man came away from the edge and was taken to hospital.