Woman is slowest to swim Channel

A charity swimmer has inadvertently set a new record for the slowest crossing of the English Channel.

Jackie Cobell, 56, had hoped to cover the 21 miles from Dover to Calais in about 19 hours, but had not taken into account the difficult summer tides. She ended up covering 65 miles and finishing in 28 hours and 44 minutes – nearly two hours longer than the previous record solo swim of 26hr 50min, set by Henry Sullivan in 1923.

Mrs Cobell, a mother-of-two from Five Oak Green, near Tonbridge, Kent, said: "When you are in the water without a watch you lose sense of where you are. I kept thinking I was nearly there, as I could see the beach, but I kept getting taken away by the tide."