THE body of a man was found halfway down a cliff face in east Cleveland.

A man walking his dog raised the alarm after making the discovery at Saltburn cliffs, at 9.30am, yesterday.

Rescuers in three lifeboats and the coastguard were involved in recovering the body, which was about 60ft from the foot of the cliff.

Inspector Lynn Beeston, of Cleveland Police, said “Lifeboat teams recovered the body and removed it from the area.”

Police were expecting a post-mortem examination to be carried out yesterday afternoon.

Two lifeboats crews, one from Redcar, and one from Staithes, worked with the coastguard and police to take the body down to base of the cliffs and transfer it to the lifeboat, which was met by police officers at the lifeboat station.

Dave Cocks, spokesman for Redcar RNLI, said: “The location of the body, part way down the cliffs, between Saltburn and Skinningrove, made the operation particularly difficult.

“The volunteer crews from Redcar and Staithes, including the medical advisor from Staithes RNLI, worked together to bring the body to the cliff bottom.

“The body was then taken back to our lifeboat station where police officers were waiting to take over control of the incident.

“Operations of this type are always very unpleasant, but the lifeboat crews train for all eventualities and they carried out this mission with their usual efficiency and teamwork.”