A courageous detective from Brentwood has been hailed a hero after rescuing eight children who were swept out to sea while swimming off the Lincolnshire coast.

Det Sgt Ronnie Crighton was in the water at Sutton-on-Sea with his daughter Hannah, 20, while on holiday with his family.

"We were suddenly aware that the current was very strong," said the 49-year-old father-of-four.

"Around us were a lot of children. They were swimming to get into shore but being swept out to sea. I was telling them to get in and a few of the girls were crying and panicking."

Without a thought for his own safety, Mr Crighton swam out to the children and pulled them from danger while Hannah, his wife Joy and a friend quickly formed a human chain to bring them in to the shore.

"The current was very strong and all the time the waves were crashing in on top of me," he added.

"It didn't hit me until afterwards that I could have died."

After bringing the last child in he was swept out to sea himself, but managed to swim back to the beach, exhausted and feeling sick from having swallowed too much water.

He was given oxygen by a coastguard and airlifted to hospital before being released the same day. The children went back to the beach and he still does not know who they were.

Hannah, a student at Manchester University and former Shenfield High School pupil, said her father was a hero and she was very proud of him. "It was frightening, she added. 'It all happened very quickly.'"

Published Thursday August 26, 2004

Brought to you by the Brentwood Gazette