Ministry of Defence police went to the rescue of an 80-year-old man saved by brambles as he tumbled down a cliff.

The man, understood to be a holidaymaker from Australia, had been walking on the cliff path through Mount Edgcumbe Country Park on Wednesday morning when he slipped and fell about 60 feet down the slope towards a sheer drop near Fort Picklecombe. He only stopped when his clothes caught in brambles near the edge.

Passing yachtsmen heard his cries for help and coastguards called in officers from the MoD police whose boats had been escorting a warship in Plymouth Sound.

The police team went ashore and worked their way up the cliffs to rescue the man and lower him to the shore below.

Coastguard teams were also at the scene and provided first aid to the man who suffered cuts and bruises but was not seriously injured. He was put on a stretcher and taken by boat across Plymouth Sound to a waiting ambulance.