Kieth Lane - Window Cleaner Extraordinaire

This is an old story, but one that has been mentioned before on the blog here. Kieth Lane is one of those remarkable guys that happens to be a window cleaner working in Sussex by day, but by early morning & afternoon he turns his efforts to rescuing people from suicide on the clifftops of Beachy head facing the English channel that separates England from France. Eastbourne window cleaner Keith Lane spends his days patrolling the 8 mile stretch of coastline, keeping a tireless watch over the notorious suicide spot. To date, Keith has prevented around 30 people from taking their own lives. "Life on the ledge" by Kieth Lane, available from all good book shops & online.

2006: A man who has talked people out of committing suicide during patrols of the cliffs where his former wife died has remarried. More than 100 friends and relatives saw Keith Lane, 55, marry Val Thoroghood in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on Saturday. Mr Lane has made twice-daily visits to Beachy Head cliffs since his former wife, Maggie, died there in March 2004. Her body was found 150ft down the cliffs. An open verdict was recorded at her inquest. Mr Lane, a window cleaner who lives in Eastbourne, believes he has stopped 18 people committing suicide since he began patrolling the cliffs. He has received a Royal Humane Society award and plaudits from local police.
Maggie Lane had been in the grip of a drink-fuelled depression when she drove her car to Beachy Head. She had taken a cocktail of alcohol and pills before her death. Mr Lane said his remarriage proved it was possible to find happiness after despair. "After all I've been through over the past 18 months, this is a dream come true," he said. "The wedding was absolutely brilliant and I never thought I would find true love again after Maggie. But it has happened and I couldn't be happier." Mr Lane met Val in a pub last summer and three weeks later proposed during a romantic trip to Paris. "We have become inseparable ever since," he said. "She means the world to me and is like a breath of fresh air. "I'm a living example that it is possible to turn your life around."
The couple are taking a six-week round-the-world honeymoon, taking in the US, New Zealand and Hong Kong. But Mr Lane intends to resume his visits to the cliffs on his return. The new Mrs Lane, who has Parkinson's disease, said: "Keith is an amazing man and I'm so glad we found each other. "He just seems to have an amazing instinct for spotting people who are in trouble with their emotions. "We have both been through tough times but at last we feel we can move on and live life happily." Mr Lane saved a woman's life at Beachy Head only a week after Maggie died. He was at Beachy Head when he noticed a woman who seemed to be in distress scribbling a letter and rugby-tackled her as she ran towards the cliff edge. He has since set up a charity in his former wife's name to raise funds and to campaign for 24-hour patrols of the eight-mile stretch of cliff.

And then in 2007...A man who claims to have stopped 29 people committing suicide is scaling down his cliff top patrols because of criticism from rival lifesavers. Keith Lane, 57, has patrolled Beachy Head, East Sussex since his wife, Maggie, fell to her death in 2004. But he said he has been criticised by Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team (BHCT) for breaking health and safety rules.
BHCT said its members were fully trained and declined to comment on his allegations. An open verdict was recorded at the inquest into Mrs Lane's death at the notorious suicide spot. Mr Lane, a window cleaner from Eastbourne, began patrolling the cliff soon afterwards.
In September 2004 he was awarded a Royal Humane Society Award for his bravery after he rugby-tackled another woman who was about to jump off the cliff, saving her life. He said the confrontation, criticism and "abuse" came to a head recently. An inquest into Maggie Lane's (pictured) death recorded an open verdict. "The last person I saved was about 15ft below the cliff edge - she had slipped over the side to commit suicide and then changed her mind," he told BBC Southern Counties Radio. "I had to climb down to get her and then link arms with her and pull her back up. "We were both in a very precarious position and they told me I could have killed her. "Can you believe that?" He admitted it would be less risky to wait for professional rescuers but said there was no time. "If I had waited for the authorities it would have been 15-20 minutes before they attempted a rescue and she had probably two minutes before she slipped off the edge," he said. Mr Lane said he used to patrol the cliff top two or three times a day. Now I am having to scale it down because I don't like the confrontations," he said. "I feel that health and safety generally has got in the way of all sorts of things - people like me must be encouraged to help people."
BHCT, which is funded by donations, says it works closely with the emergency services and the Coastguard and operates more than 100 hours of patrols at Beachy Head every week. "The team has been built up over three years and involves 18 fully trained frontline personnel, backed up by aftercare services," it said in a statement. "We have been involved in over 1,200 searches and incidents and have assisted over 400 vulnerable persons in distress. "We have also found it very necessary to keep a low profile in both the local and national media as any mention of Beachy Head tends to attract distressed people to the area."

October 2007: Lane's charity, the Maggie Lane Trust, was formally wound up and Lane halted his cliff-top vigils. Petty jealousies and "childish backbiting" from the volunteers of the Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team have left him feeling angry, demoralised and undervalued, he says: "I've even been accused of encouraging suicides here, by the publicity I was accused of courting. It's cruel and unfair." The Coastguard, which, like the Chaplaincy Team, will not comment on Lane's allegations, has criticised his "unprofessionalism", complaining that he does not alert the emergency services or even don a safety harness before scrambling down to haul waverers back from the brink. "The official view is that the lives of rescuers can't be risked," says Lane. "That's fine in principle. But people are alive today because I didn't hesitate."

Beachy Head deaths triple - December 2007: The number of people killing themselves by jumping off Beachy Head nearly tripled this year, figures showed today. Deaths have increased since a cliff top patrol was forced to quit over health and safety fears. Now there are substantial worries the upward trend will continue through 2008 - a year many predict will one of financial hardship. The increase coincides with Keith Lane, whose wife Maggie killed herself at Beachy Head in 2004, stopping his cliff top patrols. Mr Lane is credited with preventing at least 29 suicides after starting his work in 2004.

July 2009: The 59-year-old, who is a semi-retired window cleaner, says he believes Maggie's memorial cross is now being damaged by someone who has a grievance against him as three other Beachy Head memorials have been left standing. Mr Lane said, "It is desecration. It really is the lowest of the low and an insult to my late wife." Mr Lane explained his wife's memorial cross had been pulled out of the ground five weeks ago and left on the grass. He subsequently cemented it back in to the ground before adding top soil and then grass. But on Sunday (July 26) he visited the site and found the cross had been snapped in two. A devastated Mr Lane said, "I am very, very upset and I would like the person or persons to come forward and talk to me. "If they have a grievance they should speak to me about it instead of vandalising the memorial to my wife.

2009: After Maggie's death, Mr Lane independently patrolled the area and prevented 29 distressed people from committing suicide. His rescue efforts won him prestigious bravery awards but in October 2007 he stepped down because of health and safety complaints. However, after the recent death of the grief-stricken Puttick couple, who jumped from Beachy Head with their dead young son in a rucksack, Mr Lane is considering returning to the life-saving role. A mother and father jumped 400ft to their death holding the body of their dead five-year-old son in a rucksack.