A FATHER-of-four has revealed that he was one of the rescuers who came to the aid of a drowning teenager in the River Wharfe.

Thirteen-year-old Leeds boy Daniel Halliday was pulled from the river after getting into difficulties on Otley Carnival day.

Daniel, a Leeds Rodilian School pupil, had climbed out of a boat and gone for a paddle when he got out of his depth and then began to panic.

Last week, the Wharfedale Observer made an appeal to find the bystanders who came to his rescue.

Now Bradford man Michael Thompson has revealed he was one of the people who jumped into the river.

Mr Thompson's son was a member of the Queensbury Marching Band, which took part in the carnival parade.

He took his three daughters to paddle on the steps at the edge of the river, and was sitting on the bank when he saw Daniel in trouble.

He said: "I didn't know if he was just fooling around at first, as there were thousands of people about on the bridge. But he was near the middle of the river and must have been out of his depth."

He took off his shoes and glasses and jumped into the river, swimming out to the boy.

"I reached him at about the same time as two other people. He did what most drowning people do, which is to grab at the first person who appears in front of him.

"Two others held his arms, and I went along in front of him to reassure him," he said.

Mr Thompson said he had a bronze medallion in lifesaving, but had never before been involved in a real rescue.