Penny Lancaster reveals suicidal person she saved was university student struggling in lockdown

Penny Lancaster has revealed that the suicidal person she helped on a bridge was a student struggling to cope in lockdown.

The wife of rock star Sir Rod Stewart recently shared that she helped to save someone who was “pretty desperate” during one of her shifts as a volunteer police officer.

Lancaster has now opened up further about the incident, saying the person was a university student and that he had been finding things tough during the pandemic.

Read more: Rod Stewart bought Penny Lancaster a narrowboat for her 50th birthday

She said on Gabby Logan's podcast The Mid Point: “It just so happened that this young man approached me holding prayer beads in his hands and just crying and shaking and said, ‘I feel really suicidal, I don't know what to do, help me’."

She continued: “The priority was to assist him off the bridge and to get him away from immediate danger and find a quiet place to sit and just talk to him.

"Be that down to Earth person, forget you've got a uniform and remember you are a mother, so I could empathise with him.

“[You] try to understand but of course you can never really put yourself in someone's shoes like that.”

The 50-year-old went on: “He opened up about his relationship with his parents, his father was very religious and was upset that he wasn't religious and his mother was calling, asking where he was because she was concerned.

“He was in his second year of university, was struggling with all the Zoom calls and not being in contact with people.”

The star said as well as getting the man to safety, a mental health triage nurse was called.

“In the end, he was happy and felt safe enough to go home,” she said. “I later contacted him with my police device and made sure that he was safe and just to remind him that there is always someone out there that will help.

"Yeah, it felt good.”

Lancaster also told Logan that one of her tasks has often been to help “look after the bridges”.

“At one point, it was sort of every day there was someone that was jumping,” she said.

Lancaster was inspired to sign up to be a special constable after taking part in Channel 4 reality show Famous And Fighting Crime in 2019 and experiencing what it was like to be a volunteer with the Cambridgeshire Police.

Read more: Penny Lancaster: Bullies beat me until I bled

The model — who is mother to sons Alastair, 15, and Aiden, 10, with Stewart — has previously said that in policing she feels she has found her calling.

Discussing Famous And Fighting Crime last year, she said: “It was terrifying, terrifying. But I never felt more comfortable in a position and I felt like this was where I was supposed to be.”

For confidential emotional support at times of distress, contact The Samaritans at any time by calling 116 123 or emailing jo@samaritans.org.

Watch: Penny Lancaster threw men's pants at Sir Rod Stewart