A man was rescued by police after swimming out into the River Medway at Chatham this afternoon.

Emergency services were called to the river just after 1.15pm when a man jumped from the river bank near the Command House in Dock Road.

Fire crews had been preparing to rescue the man from the mud when he is said to have swum out from the shore.

He was then retrieved by a police boat.

The man had been brought to safety by 1.50pm and has since been taken to a local hospital as a precaution.