THE heroic saviours of a shopper who was moments from death have visited the man they gave lifesaving CPR to after he went into cardiac arrest in a busy shopping centre.

PC Karl Heseltine and PC Ryan Bramley rushed from Darlington Police Station to the town’s Cornmill Shopping Centre following reports that a 48-year-old was struggling to breath.

The pair immediately began to try and resuscitate Darlington man Matthew West and carried out CPR alongside paramedics for more than an hour before he was stable enough to be taken to hospital.

However, during the journey on Monday, March 11, from Darlington to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, Mr West had to be revived several more times.

The Northern Echo: The ambulance outside the Cornmill Shopping Centre, in DarlingtonThe ambulance outside the Cornmill Shopping Centre, in Darlington

The police officers attended the hospital a few days later to check up on Mr West, but were told he would need to undergo a number of operations before he could be released.

One month on from the life-or-death emergency, PC Heseltine and PC Bramley were finally able to see Mr West again at his home in Darlington on Thursday night.

Mr West said: “I cannot thank the officers enough, I owe them my life.”

The 48-year-old told the officers how his operations had been a success and that he was very happy to be back in his home.

Inspector Kevin Salter, from Darlington response said: “I’m very proud of the officers and their actions, this unfortunate incident was both physically and emotionally challenging for them and they worked tirelessly to do all that they could to help along with paramedics and staff at The Cornmill Centre.

“I spoke to the officers when they returned to the station that day and they feared the worst for Matthew having worked on him for such a long time. Seeing their faces the following day when they’d heard he pulled through was a picture! You could see how much it meant to them.

“It’s endings like this that makes up for all of the other incidents we have deal with, it really does make everything worthwhile.

“We wish Mr West all the best for the future and hope he can pop into the station for a cuppa to see us all once he’s fully recovered.”