Police today told how they dramatically stopped a suicidal man jumping to his death twice in three hours.

Two detectives snatched the man from the edge of one of the top floors of a Basildon town centre multi-storey car park as he threatened to leap.

He was taken to hospital but later returned to try to take his life a second time. Police led a tense second rescue attempt and wrestled the man to safety.

The drama unfolded near the top of Basildon's Great Oaks multi-storey car park - a notorious suicide spot opposite the town's police station.

The man, who told police he was depressed, was eventually arrested after his second attempt and taken to Basildon Hospital's mental health unit where he was detained.

Speaking of Saturday's drama, Det Insp Bob Chatterton of Basildon CID said: "As far as we are concerned the officers who grabbed the man are heroes.

"He would probably have killed himself if it wasn't for their actions -- they did an excellent job."

Detectives Paul White and Chris Thomas spotted the man, who was in his 30s, as he sat on a wall at the edge of the eighth level ten-storey car park.

They rushed to him and pulled him to safety before he was able to jump.

However, an hour after he was allowed to leave Basildon Hospital the same man was seen back in the same place by two different detectives.

This time it was Det Con Ed Mayo who talked to the man for 15 minutes.

It gave Insp Vic Wallace and Sgt Steve Ditchburn time to size up the situation.

Det Con Mayo said: "I was more concerned he was going to flip out or slip off the wall. He was in a very precarious position.

"I started talking to him to get his attention and the other two came up from behind and pulled him off the wall."

The top storey of the car park is fenced off to stop would-be jumpers, but lower storeys are not fenced in.

But town centre manager Jim Furnival said there was little else that could be done. He said: "If someone wants to jump they are going to jump. We cannot fence off every single level."

A Basildon Hospital spokesman said patient confidentiality prevented her commenting on why the man was able to leave to try to jump again.

Suicide spot - the top storey of the car park in Great Oaks is fenced to stop people jumping, but lower floors are not

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