A HEROIC bobby has spoken of his hour-long ordeal urging a suicidal man not to jump from a multi-storey car park.

Sergeant Nigel Ralphson discovered the 22-year-old man sitting 80-feet high with his legs dangling dangerously over the edge of Preston's market car park. He was on the wrong side of the railings overlooking the busy Ring Way.

The sergeant spent the next hour sitting with him, listening and coaxing as the rain lashed down.

The tactful talks began just after 9pm on Saturday (Nov 8). Fire engines, a platform ladder and incident support units were called for back-up. The road was sealed off so passers-by would not gather and ruin the delicate process.

Sgt Ralphson said: "It took the man 10 minutes before he would even talk to me.

"He was very depressed, confused and had lots of problems. He was drunk which made it worse. I empathised with him saying time would heal and suicide wasn't the answer.

"I tried to make him believe I understood even though suicidal people often think nobody does understand them.

"Several times he would drift into his own world, lean forward and look down, thinking about jumping again. At one point he shifted and I thought he'd go.

"I've been in situations where people have threatened to cut themselves but never anything this immediate where I wouldn't have been able to grab and save him." The tortured man, who has not been named, pleaded with the sergeant for psychiatric help and finally agreed to come down. An ambulance crew took the man to Royal Preston Hospital's Avondale Unit.

Sgt Ralphson added: "It was an awful situation. I feel proud I stopped him killing himself but if he had, I would have always wondered if I'd done enough."

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