BIG hearted police constable Yvonne Dutson took a leap into the unknown to help her colleague's handicapped son.

The 31-year-old Consett police constable and mother-of-two jumped headfirst from a light aircraft at 10,000 feet to raise cash to help her colleague Melanie Cornwell and her husband Chris.

Mr and Mrs Cornwell's 18-month son Nicholas suffers cerebral palsy and when Mrs Dutson heard of their plight she decided to help out and fulfil a lifetime ambition to skydive.

She trained with instructor Dave Mitchell, who is also a policeman in the Blackhill area of Consett, in order to make a tandem skydive jump at Shotton Colliery airfield.

Mr Mitchell, a former member of the Red Devils has more than 3,700 jumps to his credit.

"I have always wanted to do a parachute jump but there is nothing to prepare you for the feeling of exiting an aircraft at 10,000 feet," said Mrs Dutson.

"When we fell away from the plane everything seemed to go into slow motion. Despite the fact we were dropping at 120mph there was strangely no sensation of falling."

Mrs Dutson raised nearly £250 for her colleague.