PORTHCAWL COASTGUARDS ASSIST POLICE

Porthcawl Coastguards and the Porthcawl lifeboat assisted the police after a suspected car thief tried to escape from chasing policemen by running into the sea.

Police had been called to Porthcawl, south Wales, where three youths were reported to have taken a car. Officers pursued the vehicle until the youths stopped and took off on foot. Two went in one direction and were arrested, while the other raced into the sea at Sandy Bay.

He was wading out for about 15 minutes, refusing orders from police to come to the shore.

When coastguards hauled him into a boat to take him ashore the youth made a second bid for freedom and immediately leapt out again, to be grabbed by a lifeboatman who plunged in after him.

He was treated at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend for slight hypothermia before being formally arrested.