PCs revive woman pronounced dead

A woman who had been declared dead by a doctor was recovering in hospital last night after being resuscitated by two police constables who saw her leg twitch.

Maureen Jones, 59, was declared dead by her doctor after her son found her slumped on the floor of her home in Thwing, Humberside.

PC Kevin Smith and his colleague PC Philip Shrimpton arrived less than 30 minutes after Mrs Jones, who has four children, was declared dead. PC Shrimpton comforted her family while PC Smith checked the bedroom where she was found.

"The body was lying face down and white and it had obviously been there for some time," he said yesterday. "Then the leg moved - it just jumped in the air. I was scared stiff - never mind all this macho police stuff."

The shocked officer called his colleague and the pair began to resuscitate Mrs Jones by clearing her airway and giving her heart massage.

Her eyes were soon open and she was looking at the officers, although she was not coherent. Medics later revealed that Mrs Jones, a widow, had been in a deep diabetic coma.

Mrs Jones is being treated at Scarborough Hospital.