An off-duty policeman saved a husband and wife from drowning today when they were hit by a freak gust of wind while on their yacht.

Hampshire PC David Spensly-Corfield heard cries from the water while with two friends at Chichester Harbour.

He spotted a man clinging to a buoy and commandeered a boat to sail out to him.

Mr Spensly-Corfield, accompanied by a friend, alerted Solent Coastguard to the emergency on his mobile phone as he sailed to the man.

He then spotted the man's wife bobbing in the harbour nearby.

She dipped below the waves several times and was unconscious when the off-duty constable reached her.

The woman was hauled into the boat, followed by her husband, and the pair were taken to St Richard's Hospital in Chichester. They were later said to be stable.

The husband, yet to be named, told police he and his wife had sailed out to the yacht on an inflatable dinghy to collect valuable belongings at the end of the sailing season.

His wife managed to climb on to the yacht before a freak gust knocked him from the dinghy into the choppy harbour. The man's wife dived in after him, unaware of strong currents.

Her husband managed to swim to a buoy but the woman was overcome by the waves.