A girl of five and her mother were recovering in hospital today after police and a pier worker waded into freezing seas to rescue them.

Three officers and the member of staff from Bognor pier swam into the icy water after receiving a call saying the woman and her child were in distress 100 yards from the shore under the pier.

PC Gary Relf and pier worker Kevin Murphy managed to reach the stranded pair while the two other officers returned to the shore and helped throw lifebelts to them before the emergency rescue teams arrived.

A winch was finally attached to the girl and she was pulled to safety by a Coastguard helicopter.

A lifeboat then rescued the 31-year-old woman.

PC Peter Hawkins, who initially swam out to help the woman and girl, said it had been impossible to reach them at first because of the temperature of sea and the height of the waves.

The father-of-two said: "I did think 'I'm going to struggle here if I keep on going'. There was no way I was going to make it.

"The sea was so cold, my arms felt like dead weights. My legs had gone numb.

"If you've got children, you don't think twice about jumping in to save a child.

"When I first arrived, the woman and child were about 150 yards out.

"I jumped in and swam out but the current was very strong and I kept getting pushed against the railings."

PC Hawkins, 29, and PC Phil Duffy, 28, had been called to the scene and threw their belts and wallets aside before being joined by Mr Murphy.

PC Relf, 35, arrived minutes later and eventually overtook PCs Hawkins and Duffy, who had been washed against railings.

They turned back as their colleague and Mr Murphy helped keep the mother and daughter afloat.

Pier manager Angie Edlin said Mr Murphy was a hero. She said: "He swam out very far, which is difficult to do because the tide was coming in."

The woman, her daughter, PC Relf and Mr Murphy were all taken to St Richard's Hospital in Chichester suffering from the effects of the cold.

Mr Murphy and PC Relf were later released but the woman and the girl were kept in overnight for observation.

A police spokeswoman would not confirm reports the woman had jumped from the pier but said she had been arrested at the hospital under the Mental Health Act.