A POLICE officer and a nurse are set to be recognised after their quick-thinking and actions saved a woman's life in a dramatic episode last year.

PC Dave Cuthbertson and nurse Suzanne Arnott will be honoured today by the Royal Humane Society for pulling a 20-year-old woman to safety after finding her on the edge of a bridge over the A1(M), near Walworth, on the outskirts of Darlington.

PC Cuthbertson was the first to spot the distressed woman, who had absconded from a mental health hospital, as he was driving his daughter to a friends house in North Yorkshire.

The dramatic events unfolded on Saturday, May 8, last year(2010).

PC Cuthbertson, who had just finished his shift, saw the woman had climbed over the fence and was facing the busy motorway beneath her.

Still having his police radio, he used it to request assistance. But as other officers were some minutes away he took the decision to act alone.

Parking up some distance from the bridge, PC Cuthbertson, 48, approached the woman and tried to establish a rapport. But she failed to respond and began moving towards the edge.

"I tried to talk to her but she was totally oblivious to what was happening, PC Cuthbertson, who works in operations at Durham Police Headquarters, told The Northern Echo.

I realised I would have to try and grab her, so I crept up behind and hoped she would not be able to see me. But as soon as I got hold she started to struggle.

Luckily, he was joined by 47-year-old Suzanne Arnott, an off-duty nurse from Darlington Memorial Hospital, who was driving past on her way to Darlington for a night out.

The pair managed to drag the patient over the fence to the safety, helped by another member of the public who did not stop to leave his details.

The distressed woman was then returned to the hospital in Darlington where she had been receiving treatment.

PC Cuthbertson and Ms Arnott will be presented with framed certificates of commendation from the Royal Humane Society, today(mon).