This is the heart-stopping moment a desperate son leaned out of a window to grab his suicidal mother seconds before she tried to hurl herself 30ft to her death.
The unnamed woman, 45, clambered out of the third-story window at a block of flats in Exeter, Devon, before dangling her legs perilously over the precipice of the narrow ledge.
A man is seen leaning out of the window before grabbing the frantic woman around the waist.
He held onto her for 15 minutes until police arrived and hauled her back into the flat.
Horrified neighbour Ben Fay, 28, who lives in a second floor flat opposite the building, grabbed his camera and watched as the drama unfolded at around 6pm on Monday.
Ben, a customer service advisor for South West Water, said: ”I was sitting in my living room when I heard this shouting and screaming.
”I looked out the window and there was this woman, sat on her roof with her legs dangling over the edge preparing to hurl herself off.
”She was screaming and the man in the flat was trying to pull her back. She was definitely trying to jump.
”My girlfriend came in from the shops and rushed to ring the police.
”It was scary to watch and my girlfriend was crying.
”I really thought the woman was going to jump but you can never be quite sure if it’s just a cry for help.”
Police rushed to the scene on Monday after receiving a call from a worried neighbour, who reported a woman was threatening to jump from a window.
Officers forced entry to the property, where the woman had been on the ledge for around 15 minutes.
They could then be seen dragging the woman back inside the roof window before restraining her.
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said: ”Officers were called following reports of a woman threatening to jump from a roof. The woman was believed to be drunk.
”A member of the public tried to speak to the woman from the street.
”Officers closed the road and the decision was made to force entry to the woman’s property in order to bring her back to safety.
”They found a male on a narrow roof ledge restraining a distraught woman.
”The woman agreed to go down to the ambulance.”
Police yesterday confirmed they arrested a 45-year-old woman under the Mental Health Act following the incident.
She was held in custody until yesterday when she was released, with no further action.
