Episode 11 Real Rescues

Lucy has heart-attack symptoms, but she's only seven!

Her pulse is racing at 255 beats a minute,

three times faster than normal.

It's really rapid. I mean, at least she feels well.

She's a good colour, well perfused,

but she needs to be monitored by the nursing team and doctors.

And police with tracker dogs call in air support.

They're searching for a missing man, and they fear he may not survive the night.

"Yeah. This is...

extremely thick, er...

undergrowth,

and a tree. I'm trying to get my torch into it. Over."

Hello and welcome to Real Rescues.

We're at Hampshire Police control headquarters Charlie One.

They take over a quarter of a million emergency calls every year.

Different controllers have different specialisms. That's forensics.

They're taking calls at the moment. And behind me,

that's the Eastleigh. They deal with the airport.

Those big screens there are the motorway desk.

It's clear at the moment even though it's raining. A really important one.

Can you see Phil Jones, with the headphones on? He's the inspector,

and he's in charge of everything that goes on here.

But it's not just police emergencies on the show today.

Now we have an unusual and worrying call for the ambulance service.

The symptoms being described are very familiar,

but it's the age of the person suffering them that's causing concern.

SIREN WAILS

A 999 callout to a patient with chest pains

is nothing unusual for Julian Wensley-Smith.

But today the patient is only seven years old.

It's quite unusual to get a child that young

experiencing chest pains and palpitations.

It's not something that comes through too often,

so I'm wondering if there's any previous history,

or it could be a new episode of something,

never had this problem before.

The patient, Lucy, looks bright and alert,

but Julian immediately spots her racing pulse.

It's so fast it's making one of the main arteries bulge in her neck.

Lucy is calm enough to tell Julian what happened.

Out in the playground doing routines for Mr Petrie,

and when I was running around, it just started.

Oh, OK. What happened? What started? You tell me.

-My palpitations.

-OK. You point and show me where.

-There.

-Right in there. OK.

It's the seventh time this has happened to Lucy

in the last two years. Her mum brings Julian up to date.

Well, for some reason her heart rate goes ballistic.

-Super-duper quick?

-Yes.

And she's had a monitor for a week.

She's had a sticky-on monitor for 24 hours,

and they haven't been able to catch anything happening to her.

So although Lucy's been thoroughly checked out at the hospital,

no-one has ever been able to get an electrocardiograph

or ECG reading of her heart rate during one of these episodes.

There's a chance Julian can do that now.

Look at you! You know exactly what's coming, don't you?

-MUM LAUGHS

-ECG.

Yeah, that's right. This is the real cold one.

-Oh!

-Told you.

The ECG machine should be able to provide vital information

about what's going on in Lucy's heart.

And pop your hands down by your side. That's great.

-AUTOMATED ECG VOICE

-"Do not touch the patient."

But just when they need it, Julian can't get a reading.

There's interference from somewhere.

And he doesn't have any more luck with counting her pulse.

It's been as high as 260 beats per minute in previous episodes.

It's going too fast to count.

I would expect, with a child of Lucy's age,

to see a heart rate, really,

sort of 90, 110.

For her heart rate to be going well over 200,

it was almost three times faster than what it should have been.

Julian tries to get an ECG reading

using larger pads.

Just put that one on your back.

Ow!

It hurts.

Well done! Done.

Good. You're a very good patient, you know that?

You're a very cool, calm patient.

"Analysing heart rhythm."

Ignore what the machine says, OK?

It says all sorts of weird and wonderful things.

But it still doesn't give a useful reading.

Lucy's sister Meggan is waiting to let in the ambulance crew

who are on their way. They carry more equipment

which can measure the electrical responses of the heart.

Apart from the pain in her chest,

Lucy is also complaining that she's feeling short of breath.

-What's that?

-Oxygen.

Let's just see if we just... If you feel a bit short of breath,

let's see if we can improve the way you're feeling slightly.

All right? It just goes...

There. There.

Well done, you. Is that all right? How's that feel?

-A bit better.

-OK. Good. Let's just see how it goes.

We'll just leave it on for a short time.

The oxygen helps, but Lucy's racing pulse remains a bit of a mystery.

It's really rapid. I mean, at least she feels well.

She's a good colour. She's well perfused, but it needs monitoring.

Whilst it's going as quick as that, she needs to be monitored

by the nursing team and doctors.

Lucy still has pains in her chest, but she's staying remarkably calm.

OK. I think what we'll do is, we will pop you onto the ambulance

in a minute, all right? They're on their way.

I think we'll do another ECG

with all the stickers across your chest,

and then we'll pop you up to the hospital

and hopefully later on today you'll come back home.

All right?

-Fingers crossed, eh? You getting fed up with this now, are you?

-No.

You taking it all in your stride? Brilliant.

It's a lot for a seven year old to deal with,

but Lucy is coping extremely well.

The ambulance arrives, and Julian hands over to paramedic Carol Cole.

-You alright?

-Yeah. You?

-For a year and a half now,

she's been experiencing... Yeah. Periods of palpitations.

She's been under all the specialists at the General.

They cannot find the cause.

-They said if it happens, 999, try and catch it.

-Yeah.

-Bit of a mystery, then?

-Yeah. You're a bit of a mystery, aren't you?

Mum and Meggan are going to travel with Lucy in the ambulance.

Right.

Before they leave, there's great news.

Lucy's heart rate is suddenly back to normal.

You see this here? It's showing your heart rate's slowed right down.

I can't feel it, either. That's really good.

The palpitations appear to have stopped,

to everyone's immense relief.

This time Lucy's attack has lasted for just over an hour,

much shorter than before.

That's a normal heart rate for someone your age. That's good.

So it's gone back to normal.

It's just frustrating that they didn't get that ECG reading.

The hospital are desperately wanting to capture this rapid heart rate

on an ECG, and we were probably two minutes away from achieving that.

So in one sense, you know, we are very pleased

that Lucy's heart rate has slowed down and she's feeling better,

but in the other sense we're slightly disappointed

in that we missed an opportunity to capture this,

and obviously that would have been quite useful to the doctors.

She'll now be checked over again in hospital,

and Julian can get off to his next case.

Very nice to meet you. You were a very good patient. Well done.

You're a credit to your mum. See you later.

Lucy suffered an identical attack one week on.

That time paramedics were able to get an ECG in time,

so we'll find out exactly what's causing it later.

And from one emergency service to another.

£100,000 worth of hay has caught fire in a huge barn,

right next to a herd of young bulls. The fire crew soon realise

that simply putting out the flames is not going to be enough.

SIREN WAILS

Hampshire Fire and Rescue have been called to a fire at a remote farm.

A hay barn is burning fiercely.

En route I could see the smoke plume as soon as I left the fire station.

Four fire engines, one special-equipment unit

and two water carriers arrive to find a ferocious fire.

450 tons of hay are alight.

But this is a beef farm, and nearly 200 valuable animals are in danger.

When the fire started, half the bulls were in the pen

closest to the flames. They had to be moved straight away.

The radiating heat coming across can be up to 1,000 degrees.

Now, that would then start to burn the skin of the bulls.

They would then get agitated, knock the fence down

and then stampede where we are.

But now, with two rival herds in the same pen,

there's a new danger.

The two herds didn't get on together.

All the bulls were fighting each other from the different herds.

One farm worker has already had a narrow escape.

One of the farm workers, who weighed 18 stone, was thrown out the pen

by one of the bulls, and over the fence.

Control have sent in their animal-rescue specialists.

They're experts at handling animals in distress and danger.

There's no way on earth, if a beef bull starts to charge,

you're going to have any way of stopping it. I have to make sure

all the firefighters are aware that they're not to go near the cattle,

and also that they must make sure they've got safe egress

should any of the animals jump out of the cattle shed.

For the moment the bulls aren't going anywhere.

They can't be let into the field because they have a special diet,

and eating grass could be fatal.

The firefighters are doing all they can to protect the farmer's livelihood.

It means they aren't going to attempt to put the fire out.

Too much water could have a devastating consequence.

The reason we do not put the fire out is,

the farmer is left with several tons of wet hay,

and the animals will not touch it, so you've got to dispose of it.

So the easiest thing is to let it burn controlled.

In fact they even help the flames along.

These two positive-pressure ventilation fans in the door

are to encourage the fire to go, and that meant the fire burned quicker,

which meant we would be at the farm less time

and be less stress for the bulls.

All the time they have to hope against hope the wind doesn't change direction.

If the flames and smoke head over to the cattle shed,

the farmer will be forced to make a terrible decision.

We couldn't put them into pasture. We couldn't move them anywhere

from where they were, so the only means of controlling the hazard

is to have the animals humanely shot,

and those plans were being drawn up all the time the fire was burning.

The heat is so intense, it's beginning to set fire to other parts of the farm.

It spread across the tracks. There was a fence alongside it, as well,

which caught fire. The trees above were starting to catch fire.

So we laid out some hose reels just to damp them down,

but always conscious of not using too much water.

They're continuing to control the fire, but with limited water supplies.

There are no fire hydrants nearby, so the fire crews have set up a dam in the lane.

The water carriers ferry water back and forth to keep it full.

If we run out six jets, we run out of water within 20 seconds,

so we have to prioritise our actions,

and it basically was to save all the water for a fan spray

between the barn and the bulls.

The fine spray cools down the hot air before it reaches the bulls,

protecting them from the intense heat.

The tactics are working. The wind hasn't changed direction.

Firefighters have surrounded the barn to contain the flames.

They're limiting its spread.

They will have to stay on the farm, monitoring the flames,

for at least 24 hours to ensure the hay burns itself out safely.

It's going to be a long night for the farmer and his valuable herd.

The farmer seemed to be very pleased that we'd saved his cattle.

He was a very nice guy, and he'd lost a summer's work

of hay collecting. But 174 beef bulls at £1,000 apiece,

as far as he was concerned, his main business was intact,

and so he was able to continue his business, and I believe he still is.

Fascinating, and we have Anton with us to talk us through that.

Interesting, I thought, that you treated the animals like hazards,

potential hazards to the firefighters.

Because they're entire bull, they are extremely hazardous.

All right in their own environment on a gentle, calm day,

where there's nothing else going on, but with a barn fire

and 20, 30 firefighters around, their stress levels increase dramatically.

And a bull going rampant is a potential life-threat.

A single bull let out loose is a dangerous hazard

to a firefighter or any person,

but when you've got 175 of them, things could get right out of hand.

I was impressed that you went to such enormous lengths

to try and protect the farmer's livelihood,

rather than just going, "Fire. Put it out, chuck water at it,

-whatever damage."

-In that particular scenario,

the barn had to be contained. It is virtually impossible to put a barn fire out

without creating a massive environmental problem with water run-off and that sort of thing.

The run-off you were worried would cause damage to the livestock,

but why didn't you chuck the bulls out into the field?

The water could have caused them to get pneumonia.

Because they're in such a protected environment,

they're not used to being exposed to the elements,

and if they went into a field they'd be eating grass,

and their stomach's simply not developed to take grass.

-Because they're brought up on feed.

-On hard feed, concentrate,

-all their lives.

-Fascinating! They were aggressive, weren't they?

Because it wasn't that normal day...

But also, because you'd put one lot of bulls

that had never met the other lot all in together...

Despite living a lot together, when you put one tribe in with another

-they went berserk at each other.

-You've summed it up perfectly.

The tribal thing kicks in. Those bulls would have been bought in

at three months old, so they're in effect young boys.

They're then raised for perhaps 12, 13, 14 months.

They go from 100 kilos to 500 to 600 kilos.

The testosterone level rises dramatically,

and within their own herd there is a pecking order.

-There is within every species.

-When you put them all together,

-they were sorting it out.

-Certainly. A massive fight then kicks off.

Fantastic! It's just like Saturday night on Southampton high street

with all the football supporters from different teams.

Young men, too much testosterone. The animal kingdom's the same!

Thank you, Anton. Louise?

Not all animal rescues are as serious as dealing with those bulls.

Sarah's got a story about a more prickly customer. You OK to talk?

-Yes.

-You've got a story about a hedgehog

which was caught on CCTV with a bit of a problem. What was going on?

It was ever so sweet. Often we see things on the cameras here,

and one evening we saw a hedgehog run into a spot of bother.

He had got his little snout stuck in a Styrofoam cup.

We watched him for a few minutes, and he wasn't getting out of it,

so we thought, "We have to do something about this."

We called up one of the police officers in the area. It was a quiet night,

so there was nothing going on. We explained the problem,

and we watched a few minutes later as they turned up.

The blue lights were flashing. I don't know if the sirens were going

because we haven't got sound. They got out with their high-visibility jackets on, hats,

-coned off the road...

-Coned it off.

-Did everything.

We were all laughing. Had a bit of a look at the hedgehog,

then just gently took the cup off its little nose, and it ran away,

-and we all cheered in here.

-It was a quiet night.

-That's why you sent them.

-That's right.

-Was he OK?

-Yes, he was fine.

-Thank you!

-Thanks.

When Rachel Southgate was frantically trying to help her husband

after a seizure, Rachel asked her five-year-old son to bring her the phone.

But to help his mum, Jamie goes one step further

and calls 999 himself.

JAMIE TALKS TO OPERATOR

RACHEL SPEAKS

You heard the voice. Here he is. Jamie's here with us. Good work!

Had you been practising for that?

No. I just did it!

You'd told him before, hadn't you, how to dial 999?

You didn't expect he'd have to do that, though.

We weren't sure he'd be able to do it if he needed to,

but obviously he proved us wrong. He was very good.

What was it like when the ambulance arrived?

-How did it arrive? Was it quick?

-Yeah. It was... It was shot

right to the house! It was shot!

-Quickly to the house?

-It could be shot straight into the computer.

-Really? It was that fast?

-Yeah!

It went shot!

You'd been practising about the 999.

-When you called, were they very quick answering the phone?

-Mm, yeah.

-Yeah?

-It just rang, then they answered it,

then I said them words...

And you knew where you lived and you knew James's name, as well.

-Yeah.

-Very good. James, what do you think of what he did?

-You were in a serious situation.

-I didn't know what was happening,

obviously, but I think it's absolutely amazing

for what a five year old can do, and ring an ambulance,

and obviously I've just heard the call now.

To say what he said, and just absolutely...

-It was so clear, as well!

-It was, and how he knew the address,

-and absolutely everything.

-And just tell us quickly -

-you've found out now what's wrong with you.

-Yeah, a form of epilepsy,

and it could have been brought on by... I had viral meningitis.

-As a mum, are you... He's a talkative chap, aren't you, Jamie?

-Yeah.

-Are you impressed by what he did?

-Very. Very proud of him.

-Excellent.

-It's wonderful.

Jamie, you've told everybody at school about this now.

-Yeah, in assembly.

-What did you tell them?

Told them that my stepdad was poorly,

and he collapsed,

-but Miss Higley done it first, though.

-Yeah.

And you really helped to save him, didn't you?

Yeah. And then, after Miss Higley done it,

I just came right out to the front and then told everybody,

-and it freaked me out!

-Did it? THEY LAUGH

Do you want to be an ambulance driver?

Because the ambulance went very fast. What do you want to be, then?

-Fireman.

-Do you? Well, we've got something you might like.

Have a look at this. For being so brave...

-Oh, wow!

-Thank you very much, all of you, for coming in.

Are you going to put it on? Brilliant. Good luck to you, Jamie.

Still to come on Real Rescues - who'd have thought watering the garden was so dangerous?

I just felt so abandoned in this water,

and it was oozing round me and I couldn't get out of it.

I just was amazed that I was in such a predicament

all from my own doing.

And the very long arm of the law. He doesn't know it yet,

but this man is being followed by a police spotter plane

and it's all to do with a pair of bolt-cutters he's carrying.

Er, we're going to see if we can... We can. Andrea's off the phone.

She's just taken... or had a very interesting call in...

Acting Sergeant, by the way, in case you were wondering.

-..er, about a robbery.

-That's correct, yeah.

We've had a call in that, basically, a male's entered a bank,

and he's threatened staff, saying he's got a weapon,

and he's also demanded money from them.

They've given him money, he's now left the bank,

and we've got reports that he's thrown all the money in the air,

and two members of the public are restraining him, waiting for police to arrive.

A citizen's arrest, holding him down!

We're en route to attend, but that's the report we've got at the moment.

-Fantastic. Can we come back to you?

-Yes.

-It's all going on in here!

Thank you very much. Right. We'll move on in the meantime.

A man is reported missing with serious injuries somewhere deep in Hampshire woodland.

They're worried he's a risk to himself and doesn't want to be found.

Boxer One Zero, the police spotter plane, is launched.

Dog-handlers on the ground are in contact with the crew.

The search is on.

It's late at night, and the air-support crew is using its thermal-imaging camera

to search for unlikely heat sources on the ground.

As they fly over a heavily wooded area

close to where the man has gone missing, they spot something.

"Yeah. We found a heat source which is near to Ash Road,

which we can't distinguish. We need to get it looked at."

"It's about 20 yards into the woodland, though."

At this stage it's impossible to say whether or not the heat source

is a person. They need the police and search dog on the ground

to move in closer, but they're working in darkness

and can see very little through the trees and dense undergrowth.

"Yeah. One Zero to the dog unit."

"Immediately to your left, about 20 feet. Over."

"You're moving away from it. It's behind you."

With clear vision of both the target and the dog team,

the air-support team can guide the handler towards his goal.

"One Zero to the dog unit. Two feet to your left,

and you're almost upon it. Over."

"Yeah. This is extremely thick, er...

undergrowth, and, er...a tree."

"I'm trying to get my torch into it. Over."

"Yeah. You're almost looking directly at the heat source."

They're almost on top of the target, but just can't see or get to it

through the dense brambles.

"It appears, if you come back out onto the communal parking area

and then go three feet to your left, there seems to be a way in there."

It's a frustrating job for dog and handler.

"Yeah. I can't, um..."

"It's totally thick. I'm going to call in my dog

and try and get in myself."

"Go ahead."

"I should be about on it now, shouldn't I?"

"It's about six feet ahead of you."

"Seems to be underneath a fallen tree or a branch. Over."

The policeman on the ground has finally made it through -

and this is no false alert.

"Can I have an ambulance urgently? Over."

"Can you get me an officer here with a first-aid kit immediately?"

"Roger."

"Any officer with a first-aid kit, please."

A first-aider on the ground moves in immediately.

Within minutes an ambulance will be on-site to take the injured man to hospital,

but without the help of the air-support unit,

he could have been out in the woods all night, with devastating consequences.

"Thank you very much for your assistance. Very grateful. Over."

The man made a full recovery from his injuries.

-This is Andy Sparshott, who was on that operation.

-Hi.

Fascinating thing, that you could get so close,

especially with the dog-handler,

and the guys on the ground not know they were right next to the person

-they were looking for.

-That's correct.

We're using thermal imagery to see this thermal return,

within this wooded area. We didn't realise ourselves

how dense the wooded area was, and we're trying to direct the handler

to the heat source we're seeing, and it wasn't till the handler

got down on all fours and climbed in through the woods that we realised how dense it was.

Why didn't the dog smell him, know where he was?

The way the dogs work, they're either picking up the scent

of the route the person would have taken through the woods,

or they're picking up the scent of their clothing, or what have you.

We think that we just directed the dog-handler into a different route.

-So the dog never crossed the scent path.

-No.

-Oh, I see.

-Actually, the dog-handler was sent through a car park

to the edge of the wood, where we saw this heat source.

Looking at that one that you were doing there,

it looked more like a sheep. It was a blob.

How could you tell it was a person? Doesn't a sheep look the same?

That's the difficulty. Looking at a stationary thermal object,

when you have overhanging trees,

that thermal return is an obscure shape.

So if it was somebody walking through the woods,

we'd be able to tell, but if it is stationary,

sometimes it is difficult to determine

whether it is a deer or another animal or even a compost heap,

because compost heaps are, er, a non-uniform shape,

-they give off heat...

-Have you ever directed anyone

-to something...

-Yes. Unfortunately I have to claim that I have.

A colleague who I was on patrol with, who's now a dog-handler,

and he's gone on to the dog unit and I've gone on to the aeroplane,

we both were sent to a burglary incident

where the offender was jumping somebody's back gardens.

The burglar was contained within the rear garden of one house,

which we were flying round. I was on the thermal-imagery camera,

and saw this heat source secreted between a swinging garden hammock

-and the back fence.

-Obviously someone hiding.

Of course. Again, you know, your mind's playing games with you.

-What was it?

-I was convinced, and it turned out to be the family rabbit.

So thankfully the police dog was on a lead.

Or it would have had it for lunch. Fascinating stuff.

In case you're wondering how they don't send them over cliffs,

-you've got maps so you can be sure.

-We've got mapping in the aircraft

so we can tell where the camera is looking

-on the mapping.

-All right.

-We know what wooded area we're looking at.

We've run out of time. New information to find out.

Thank you, Andy. We've got to move on now, unfortunately.

Yes. Earlier on, we saw seven- year-old Lucy's heart racing along

at over 200 beats per minute, and you can see the pulse in her neck.

Lucy's here, with Meggan, her sister, and her mum.

-And you're feeling much better today, aren't you?

-Yeah.

-Thank goodness!

Lucy had the same problem a week later, but this time

doctors were able to record her heart rhythms, as I found out.

I'm with Lucy's doctor, Dr Roman. This is an example, isn't it,

-of Lucy's heart when it's normal.

-Yes. This is an electrocardiogram

of Lucy's heart during a normal rhythm.

So we can compare that to what it might look like

-during an episode, which is quite different.

-Yes.

This is a very abnormal cardiac tracing,

or electrocardiogram, which shows the heart is racing along

at around 240 to 280 beats per moment...er, per minute.

This is not something for... The heart shouldn't be able to do this.

This suggests that her heart has an abnormal electric pathway,

and this is a very abnormal, narrow, complex tachycardia.

So you've measured it on this machine.

Is it dangerous for her? She was feeling pain

-and was quite worried by it, wasn't she?

-Yes.

It's not dangerous, in that this is something very treatable.

It is dangerous if it was to remain unchecked for many hours

or a few days. It can affect the heart function.

But usually this is very well tolerated in a very young child.

This is an eminently treatable condition,

and in Lucy's case we've started drug therapy.

She's on a beta-blocker.

And in the meantime, when she has these...?

We will obviously monitor how many she has.

We hope that she never has any long runs

of abnormal electric pathway,

and we hope that she'll be well controlled on medication.

But the outlook is quite good. The prognosis is good,

-and I'm sure she'll be fine in the long term.

-OK. Thank you.

That's good news, that you're going to be OK, Lucy.

Tell us a bit about these attacks. What does it feel like to you?

It feels quite...

scaring to me, because deep down, I'm not used to it, not yet.

But quite up in my body, I'm used to it.

When I'm used to it, I feel quite OK,

but when I'm not, I just feel...bleh! Gross.

Watching the film, you can see the pulse in her neck.

-It's got to be frightening as a mum.

-It is scary,

because I don't know what she feels.

I don't know what she's going through.

I can only keep her calm and deal with the situation as it's happening.

And that day when we were filming, you were off sick from school!

-It must be worrying for you too.

-It was, because I wasn't with it

on that day, and I was calling up everybody,

telling them what was going on, and it was really quite scary for me.

-Are you getting used to it now?

-Um, sort of. Yes and no.

-What's the "no" bit?

-The "no" bit is...

..part of it is telling me to try, stop it,

but the other half of my body is trying to ignore it.

-So I can't really do it, so...

-It's a really tough one, isn't it?

-It's not life-threatening, is it? She can live with it.

-Yes.

-How does it affect everyday life?

-It doesn't, because we don't let it.

We don't know...what brings them on, so we spoke to Dr Roman.

He said we don't have to stop her doing anything.

She can do any activity she wants to do.

It's just that you tend to keep a special eye just in case.

That's good news. Thanks for coming in. I'm glad you feel OK today.

Thank you. Now, we're used to adrenaline-pumped activities

like hang-gliding or rock-climbing leading to emergency calls here on Real Rescues,

but who'd have thought that watering your garden could be dangerous?

Ambulance crew Rebecca Slone and Anita Hart

are heading out to rescue a woman in her 70s

who's fallen down her stairs.

Rapid-response paramedic Steve Mitchell has already arrived.

-She is outside.

-This is the lovely Jean.

-Hello, Jean!

-Lovely 73-year-old lady.

As you can see, she's coming down the stairs to water the plants,

clutching a watering can. She's managed... She nearly got there.

She's got to the bottom or second-last step, slipped,

-and we think her left foot's got caught...

-Ooh!

..under there.

Jean caught her ankle in her stair lift.

Luckily neighbours heard her and raised the alarm.

Jean was carrying a two-gallon watering can down the stairs

when she fell. She ended up stranded as well as completely soaked through.

I just felt so abandoned in this water,

you know, and it was oozing round me and I couldn't get out of it.

'I just was amazed that I was in such a predicament

'all from my own doing!'

Dandy, Jean's little dog, has been by her side ever since she fell.

He was obviously standing guard, you know.

He just didn't want to go. He wanted to go to the hospital with me,

but I couldn't take Dandy with me.

It looks like Jean's ankle might be broken.

The paramedics need to immobilise it before they move her.

I'll put a splint there. It's one of those that sucks the air out

and goes hard. All right?

Splint in place, they can now get Jean out of the wet

and onto the stretcher.

Stretcher here, then stand up on the good leg?

My cunning plan was,

maybe across there somehow,

and then hopefully stand on the good one.

-Little bit of a...

-Bit of a hop, twist and jump.

-Dancer's spin.

After feeling so helpless, Jean is very relieved to be safe in the dry.

-Can you feel it?

-Oh, I'm feeling fine.

You're not supposed to be enjoying yourself. Pretend to look sick!

When I got on the stretcher,

that was the most amazing feeling of relief.

It was a release from being imprisoned in that little space, you know?

Once on board, Rebecca can carry out some routine tests

before they head off to the hospital.

Jean realises that her trip is going to become something of a talking point.

-You'll be the talk of the town.

-The highlight of the coffee morning!

-Oh, you'll be the star. Get them all to sign your cast.

-I will!

THEY LAUGH

The last time Jean was in hospital was when her son was born,

and he is nearly 50! I bet there've been a few changes since then. Nick.

Thank you. I wanted to catch up on the call that we had earlier

with Andrea here. The bank robbery - last we heard,

members of the public jumped all over this person.

That's correct. Officers attended and apprehended the male, and he's now in custody.

-Good! And everybody all right? Nobody hurt?

-No-one at all,

-and there was no weapon.

-How do you feel about people having a go?

We encourage members of the public not to get involved with people

that are possibly dangerous, so the best thing to do is dial 999

-and inform us.

-However, they did good, didn't they?

-Very good, yes.

-Smashing. Thank you, Andrea.

That's exciting this morning, isn't it? OK.

We're returning now to the police air-support unit.

They've launched their plane to look for a man who's escaped custody,

and when a 999 call comes in from a tool-hire company,

it could be just the piece of information the police need.

Once in the air, they quickly zoom in on this man.

The bolt-cutters he's just hired are nearly as big as he is.

There's no mistaking him, but he has no idea he's been spotted

by police overhead.

The bolt-cutters are the largest the hire-company provides.

The police believe there's a good chance it could have something to do with the handcuffed escapee.

The police plane follows his every move and passes all the details

down to officers on the ground, but the man is still completely unaware

he's in their sights.

The bolt-cutters must be getting heavy,

but this man is clearly on a mission, with no time to lose.

As he reaches a crossroads, he seems to be a bit lost.

With the help of some new directions, he sets off once more.

The man is now retracing his steps.

He's clearly not taking the bolt-cutters home.

It's looking likely they're destined for someone in need.

The police are hoping he'll lead them straight to the man in handcuffs.

He's so intent on the task in hand,

he doesn't even notice the police car

that's been called into the area to monitor him.

He's now made contact with a woman who seems to be waiting for him.

As ground units close in on the pair,

a plainclothes officer makes his move.

And there he is - the escaped man in handcuffs.

Far from getting his hands freed,

this man is heading straight back to custody.

Andy, who was the cameraman in the plane at the time of that incident.

It's extraordinary to watch. What I thought was fascinating,

apart from "Can I have a pair of cutters about this big, please"...

He must have gone into the hire store.

But because you were able to watch,

you were able to keep everybody in, like, a moving disc around him,

so wherever he went, you kept the police outside it.

We'd engineered that. We knew that there was a previous incident,

the guy that had escaped custody with the handcuffs.

There was a call about somebody with a huge pair of bolt-croppers,

and when you get airborne and see the image of this person,

you didn't think they were going to be that big.

But we knew he was going to take us to the guy that had escaped,

so we'd told the police officers in the area to stay well away.

We had visual on the guy with the bolt-croppers,

-and he took us to the escapee.

-How come he didn't know?

Why doesn't he think, "Why is that plane following me?"

I think it's because he's more conscious

that he's got a big pair of bolt-croppers,

and he doesn't want to be spotted by any police driving around,

or he knows he's going to get stopped.

So he was looking around for police officers

-rather than being aware there was a plane.

-How high up, though?

-2,000 feet.

-Great pictures, there, from 2,000 feet.

I tell you what - we can find out how loud it sounds,

because on the monitor here, we've got live feed

from the spotter plane on patrol and overhead,

and a very suspicious character is on the screen, looking back up.

That's our Louise outside. Can you see them? Can you hear them?

I can, but if I was doing my shopping or getting into my car,

I wouldn't bother looking up. But also, they've been doing wide circles

for the last couple of minutes or so, and I would never assume

that they could see me on the ground, because I can't see them clearly

at all up there. And they can see me, can they?

We can see you absolutely and totally clearly.

It's now panning across to the rest of the crew.

I understand a job's come in. Would you like to let them know on the radio and tell them they're free?

-Apparently a call has just come in.

-Fox One Zero from Charlie One.

-Thank them very much from us.

-OK. You're welcome.

Extraordinary that you can be far up in the sky, looking down, and get such clear pictures.

-You're free to resume. Thanks.

-There you go.

-"Thank you, Fox One Zero Fox."

-And there they go.

So what happened in the end with this guy?

The bolt-cropper man was stopped as he approached some flats.

We knew the guy that had escaped custody was within those flats, within the communal stairwell area.

The plainclothes guy asked the woman, zoomed round the corner

-and grabbed him.

-We got the bolt-cropper guy.

The guy that had escaped lawful custody was re-arrested

for the criminal-damage incident that he'd originally committed,

-but a more serious offence of escaping custody.

-Fantastic kit.

-Remember, Louise - they're watching you.

-Thanks, Nick.

More from Real Rescues next time. Goodbye!

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