Two courageous Canterbury Cathedral workers who saved a teenager from jumping 130ft to her death from scaffolding have described the heart-stopping moment they pulled her back from the edge.

The drama unfolded when development project manager Mark Hosea spotted someone scaling the side of the building by the Great West Door and alerted head of security Jim Morley.

Both men sprang into action and quickly climbed a temporary stairwell after the 19-year-old who had ignored their calls to come down.

Despite Mr Hosea calmly encouraging the distressed young woman to come back onto the safety platform, she let go with one hand and leaned over the sheer drop.

“That’s when we decided we had to act and literally grab her, otherwise there was going to be a tragedy,” said 59-year-old Mr Morley.

Both he and Mr Hosea dragged the teenager onto the safety platform, but even as the sirens of approaching emergency vehicles sounded, she tried to wrestle free and climb over the edge again.

Eventually, two police officers followed up the staircase and handcuffed the woman for her own safety, before taking her away to be assessed by medics.

Now, Mr Morley and Mr Hosea, 43, have been awarded Royal Humane Society testimonials on parchment for their bravery following the drama on the morning of Monday, May 14.

The society’s secretary Andrew Chapman said: “This was a dangerous situation high above ground with the gusty wind adding to the hazard.

"Anything could have happened and if the woman had let go when she leaned out over the abyss, there is no doubt she would have been killed.

"They were in serious danger themselves trying to deal with a situation like this high up on scaffolding.”

The testimonials were presented at a meeting of the Association of Cathedral Constables at the Cathedral Lodge by Archdeacon Jo Kelly-Moore.

The two police officers who came to help, Ian Jefferys and Matt Vick, are to separately receive certificates of commendation from the society.

Speaking after the presentation, both cathedral workers said they are honoured, but had only acted on instinct.

“At first, we thought she might be climbing the Cathedral to stage some sort of protest and half-expected a banner to be unfurled,” said Jim.

“It became a very high-risk situation, but at the end of the day, we just did what any normal person would have done.”

Mark added: “To this day, we really do not know what her motivation was, but we just acted on instinct and are just relieved it did not end in a tragedy which, if we had been a few minutes later, it could have done.”