A MAN has died after falling from a bridge just hours after being released from police custody.

The man, who has not been named, plunged from the Gateshead side of the Tyne Bridge just before 9pm on Saturday.

Earlier that day, he had been released from police detention where he had been held for a minor offence.

In line with new Home Office guidance, the Police Complaints Authority will supervise the investigation into the man's death.

The man is the third person in the past three months to have died after falling from the bridge.

On the morning of March 7, a middle-aged man from the Gosforth area of Newcastle fell from the Newcastle side of the bridge.

In February, 16-year-old Newcastle Grammar School pupil Matthew Curry, of Cramlington, Northumberland, died after apparently jumping from the bridge