‘You feel connected to them forever’: The adventure lover who saved a stranger’s life

Austin Mellor plunged into the cold Irish Sea to save a woman caught in a riptide. The Guardian Angel treats him to a safer adrenaline fix on an indoor ski slope

When Austin Mellor was in year seven, a boy in his year was being bullied. It had been going on for a while, and Mellor hated it. One day he snapped and gave the bully a black eye. It worked. The bully stopped.

When Mellor's mum, Julie, found out, she was worried. She says I'm one of those people who goes out of their way to help others, even when I probably shouldn't," says Mellor, now 25 and an estate agent in Greater Manchester (who certainly would no longer advocate resorting to violence).