A man who tried to climb up cliffs from the beach was taken into police custody after being rescued by coastguards.

The 22-year-old man from Tottenham in London, was rescued near Fairlight after coastguards were called at 4.15pm.

He got into difficulties after attempting to climb up and became stuck just 20ft from the top.

Rescuers had problems getting over the cliff edge just below the old coastguard look out as bushes and trees made the descent difficult.

One of the team members in a harness had just managed to grab hold of him when the man dropped his bag down the 60ft cliff.

He started to try and scramble down after it, but was held back by the coastguard, whose life could have been endangered by the man's actions.

He was brought to the top of the cliff and was taken into police custody. He was not injured.