VOLUNTEER coastguard John Barnes has been honoured for his actions in saving a young woman's life. The 52-year-old grandfather and father of three from Watchet has been awarded a Royal Humane Society Testimonial on Parchment for preventing a suicidal woman from jumping 120 feet from the cliff edge at Kilve to certain death on the rocks below. John, a retired police officer who now works for a Minehead funeral director, grabbed the 27-year- old's coat and pulled her to safety literally as she was beginning to dive from the cliff in the incident last September. The citation, announced at the society's headquarters in London last week, outlines the details of the rescue. A society spokesman said John had risked losing his own balance and plunging over the cliff himself. "It was a brave, selfless and split second action which saved a life and he richly deserves the award he is to receive." John was nominated by the Avon and Somerset police, who were involved in the rescue along with Minehead lifeboat crews, other coastguards and the Devon and Cornwall police helicopter, whose crew captured the incident on film. The modest hero told the Free Press this week that he was surprised but pleased to have been given the award. "It was just one of those things that happens,' he said. "I didn't have time to think about what I was doing. It was instinctive and it was over in seconds. "If I had arrived on the scene just a few seconds later and she had jumped, she would have been killed without a doubt. "If that had happened I would have always wished that I could have done something."
