A part-time policeman in Durham is to receive an award for trying to save an elderly woman who jumped into the River Wear.

Special Constable Philip Salkeld, 26, was one of four officers who went to the scene, near the city's Milburngate multi-storey car park in June.

They found the 82-year-old woman floating face down and formed a human chain to drag her from the river.

She was not breathing and had no pulse so Special Constable Salkeld gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation while an off-duty hospital doctor massaged her heart.

They kept up their efforts until paramedics arrived and the woman, from Chester-le-Street, was taken to the city's University Hospital of North Durham, where she died five days later.

Mr Salkeld is to receive a letter of appreciation for his actions from St John Ambulance. It will be presented on a date to be fixed.

He lives on the outskirts of the city and has been a leisure centre supervisor at Slaley Hall, in Northumberland, for six years. Mr Salkeld, who has been a Special for more than three years, said: "I've been trained in first aid since the age of nine so what I had to do was almost second nature."