Hero boatman saves PC’s life after suicide tragedy

Jun 10 2008 by Laura Sharpe, Liverpool Daily Post

The crew of the Liverpool Pilot launch involved in the rescue of a police office. Able Seaman Stuart Lynn (left) and Coxswain Mike Brennan _320

A LIVERPOOL grandfather has been hailed a hero after he tried to save a man who threw himself off the Pier Head into the River Mersey.

Mike Brennan, 61, was at work on the Liverpool Pilot Launch when the incident happened at 3.30am on Saturday.

He was unable to save the man but rescued a police officer from the water. Grandad-of-three Mike and colleague Stuart Lynn, 43, scrambled the launch after hearing someone jump into the water.

Coxswain Brennan said: “It was pitch black and there was a big tide of eight metres, it was like a rapid.

“I spotted the officer with the search light and sailed over but he was on the wrong side and we couldn’t get him.

“I pulled on the stern and Stuart managed to get the officer in the mate saver ring.

“It was horrifying, if we hadn’t got him in that minute he would have gone, I’m just made up we got him out.”

Police were called to the Pier Head just before 3.30am and had tried to talk the man down but he leapt into the cold water.

The police officer went in after him, but couldn’t save the man. Mike said: “The officer was in shock and had mild hypothermia but was OK. Stuart and myself had to get straight back to work.

“It all happened so fast, in only 20 minutes.”

It’s not the first time Mike has been at the centre of a rescue operation and he appeared in the Liverpool daily Post and Echo some 20 years ago. A surveying coxswain for Mersey Ferries at the time, Mike dived in the Mersey after a 47-year-old man jumped off the boat.

Mike added: “I was a lot younger when I dived in off the ferry, I don’t think I could manage it again in the freezing cold water.

“I’m glad I managed to rescue the man that time and I’m pleased we helped the officer, it’s just a terrible shame that we couldn’t rescue the other man.

“I had a large drink when I got in and my grandchildren think I’m a hero but I just did what I could at the time.”

The body of the man, who has not been named, has not yet been recovered.

laurasharpe@dailypost.co.uk