A pair of brave teenagers instinctively saved a man’s life who was trying to hang himself off scaffolding in Northolt .
Sean Shaw and his friend Liam Hutchinson, both 16, were on their way to play football in Rectory Park when they saw a man walk past holding a metal chain and lock last Thursday afternoon (June 5).
Shortly after they heard a woman screaming for help so ran round the corner into Elm Tree Close where they saw a man’s feet dangling from scaffolding attached to houses.
Sean, of the Smith Farm Estate, said: “My friend pulled him up and I got the key out of his pocket and unlocked the padlock.
“I threw the key and padlock away so he couldn’t try and do it again.
“When we pulled him up he was not very conscious but he was still breathing.”
Sean, who is currently doing his GCSEs at Greenford High School, said: “At the time I was not caring about my safety. If there’s an option to help people I would take it.
“The police told us they were taking him to hospital. It’s shocking to think about it and I don’t really like to talk about it.”
Sean’s mother, Tammy Hallett, said when she heard what had happened she was in shock, nervous and proud all at the same time.
She said: “The man started fighting Sean and his friend. Sean is six foot so is quite a strong boy.
“They were both shaken up and both so modest. A whole family could have broken down because a person took their life.
“The headteacher and head of year are very proud.”
The police said they managed to talk the 20-year-old man down when they arrived before the ambulance came and took him to a west London hospital.
A spokesman from the Metropolitan Police Service said: “On Thursday June 5 at about 4pm police were called to Elm Tree Close, Northolt, to a report of a man on scaffolding trying to hang himself with a chain.
“It was also reported that two boys were with him trying to prevent him doing so and he was fighting them.
“No one was injured and no arrests were made.”
