A WOMAN was pulled back from the edge of the cliffs near Dover after she leapt out of a moving taxi and threatened to jump to her death.

The drama happened after the woman, who is 41 and lives in Dover, was picked up by a taxi driver in the town centre and asked to be taken to behind Dover Castle. She was in a distressed state and talked about killing herself.

As the taxi approached the hairpin bend at the entrance to Langdon Cliffs, she suddenly opened the door, leapt from the vehicle and headed towards the cliff edge.

The taxi driver raised the alarm via radio to his control room, and staff there alerted police.

By coincidence, Port of Dover police officers PC Mark Stoddart and PC Peter Eriksson had already been called to the cliff top to investigate reports of youths throwing stones over the cliffs into the port area below.

The taxi driver attracted their attention and together with the officers followed the woman for a quarter of a mile along the cliffs towards St Margaret's. She continually told them to keep away from her.

She climbed up a bank to the edge of the cliff, and sat with her feet and legs dangling over the edge. She again shouted at the men to keep away.

As she started to edge forward over the cliff, as if to jump, the men rushed forward, grabbed her and pulled her back to safety. The drama occurred at about 7pm on Sunday.

The woman was detained under the Mental Health Act and taken to the Arundel Unit at the William Harvey Hospital at Ashford.