Two Sussex men say they were the real heroes of a rescue claimed to have been made by John Prescott.

Father-of-two Darren Whaley insists he and friend Adam Devitt-Spooner saved a canoeist from drowning.

Mr Prescott and his bodyguard were said to have pulled Graham Cook semi-conscious from the water after his kayak capsized at Bala, Wales.

However, their exact role in the rescue was said to have been hyped up as a publicity stunt to make the Deputy Prime Minister look good.

Mr Whaley, an engineer with Rolls-Royce at Chichester, said: "He was not the one who put himself at risk - it was me and Adam.

"I saw Mr Prescott on the bank but that was after we had pulled the bloke out."

Mr Whaley, from Rustington, and Adam, 19, a former student at Durrington High School, Worthing, are both members of Arun Canoe Club.

They were on one of their monthly visits to the Canolfan Trywern Whitewater Centre when the incident happened.

They saw plumber Mr Cook, from Norfolk, thrown into the water and smashed against rocks after his 6ft kayak was hit by a raft.

Mr Whaley said he pulled Mr Cook, who was covered in blood, on to his own kayak and took him to the riverbank.

Mr Whaley said: "Adam raced downstream after Graham's equipment and I got him to safety. A couple of men helped get him on to the bank.

"One of them was supposed to be John Prescott, the other his Special Branch officer."

A spokesman for Mr Prescott said: "We are standing by our version of what happened."