Heroic schoolboys grab suicidal man, refuse to let him jump off bridge

Three heroic schoolchildren aged 12, 13 and 14 saved a man who had a rope around his neck and was trying to jump off of a bridge. The boys were on their way back from school at the time and they saved the man’s life while he stood on the edge of an A10 overpass in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire.

Devonte Cafferkey, 13, and Sammy Farah, 14, rushed to grab the man and persuade him not jump while their friend Shawn Young, who was 12 at the time, called for help.


The boys are now set to be presented with national awards.

While they tried to stop the man jumping and talk him out of suicide, he passed the boys his mobile phone saying ‘if it rings, don’t answer it’.

The boys later appeared on This Morning and spoke about the incident with hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby.

On the show, Devonte Cafferkey said:

‘Yeah we were the first to arrive. We were persuading him not to jump. He was crying and wiping his eyes. We said, “You’ve got family and stuff, it’s not worth it”.’

The boys were also helped by 47-year-old Joanne Stammers, who is registered disabled with Klippel-Trénaunay syndrome, a rare disability that makes her highly prone to blood clotting.

Despite her condition, which prevents her from working, Joanne took over from the boys and held onto the man ‘for what feels like forever’.

She was left with bruising all over her arms.

Another man, James Higlett, also helped to save the man’s life.

All five will receive awards from the Royal Humane Society, a charity promoting life-saving intervention.

12-year-old Shawn’s mother, Carol, was amazed at the boys’ maturity and said they have ‘just got on with it’ since their brave rescue.

She said:

‘I am extremely proud of all three of them, they are all good boys and it’s nice that they are getting recognised for doing something good in the community.


‘Quite often in the national news there are a lot of negative reports about young people so it is nice to have something positive’.