Rescuers winched a man with head and back injuries to a waiting helicopter near Constantine before he was transferred to hospital yesterday afternoon.

The man had fallen from a cliff in Scott's Wood at Polwheveral Creek some time after 4pm, and coastguard rescuers, ambulance and air ambulance paramedics and the coastguard rescue helicopter were all sent to the scene.

A spokesperson for Falmouth coastguard's rescue team said: "As we were on station, we were able to respond immediately, arriving on scene just after Cornwall Air Ambulance. They had managed to find a path down to the casualty and started to tend to his injuries.

"The casualty had fallen around 15 feet and sustained some head and back injuries and was partially submerged in the water.

"We sent team members down to assist paramedics with stabilising the casualty in the water, while the rest of the team set up a technical rope rescue system above to effect a recovery back up to the foot path.

"We lowered a specialist rope rescue technician down to the casualty with a stretcher and working with paramedics got the casualty safely into the rope system."

Due to the man's condition and the dense tree cover it was decided to put him into the inshore lifeboat and then winch him into the rescue helicopter, before he was taken to hospital along with a paramedic from Cornwall Air Ambulance.

The spokesperson added: "We wish the gentleman a speedy recovery."