TEN years ago, this week, a couple ran three miles to call a rescue helicopter after seeing a walker fall off a mountainside.

Rescuers praised couple Denise Pickard and Dave Clarke after they were forced to race to a North Yorkshire village to call rescue services.

Ms Pickard, 37, an outdoor education worker, said she and her partner had been walking along the upper level route from Swinner Gill Lead Mines to Arngill Scar.

She said: "We could see some people near the path on the lower route, quite far below us.

"All of a sudden, one of them sort of somersaulted over and plunged down the mountainside.”

The couple, who are experienced fell-walkers, took note of the grid reference on their map and began to race for help.

"There was no signal, so we were forced to make some pretty tough decisions, " said Ms Pickard, who used to work for St John Ambulance.

The couple eventually arrived at the village just over an hour later, they were able to get a phone signal and alert Swaledale Mountain Rescue Team.

The 55-year-old victim, from Kent, had suffered serious but not life-threatening head and leg injuries and was airlifted to the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough.

Also, that week, one of the regions longest-serving reporters died.

Brian Redhead, the Bedale reporter for The Northern Echo and the Darlington and Stockton Times, died suddenly at his home.

Malcolm Warne, the then editor of the Darlington and Stockton Times said: "What Brian did not know about the area, and especially Bedale, was not worth knowing. Throughout the time I have known him, Brian set the standard for authoritative local reporting. He will be much missed."

Meanwhile, a cannabis farm containing plants worth £120,000 was discovered in the region by police responding to a burglary.

Officers attempted to trace the owner of the empty property in Darlington, where 120 cannabis plants were found.

The haul was uncovered at the semi-detached house in Ruskin Road, in the Skerne Park area of the town, at 3am.

The find continued an alarming trend in the North-East and North Yorkshire, with more than 100 cannabis factories discovered the year previously.