Daredevil who jumped from cliff into unsafe water warns others not to copy him

A cliff jumper “nearly died” after back-flipping from the top of Britain's most powerful waterfalls.

Matty Harper, 25, flung himself 70ft from top of the waterfall into its turbulent waters and forced him underwater.

After almost eight seconds, Mr Harper surfaced to the relief of onlookers. He said he was “lucky to be alive”.

However he has warned others from undertaking the leap.

He carried out the death-defying stunt at High Force waterfall in Teesdale, County Durham, on Sunday, as shocked visitors watched on.

Mr Harper said he did carry out an assessment prior to the jump but has since admitted he “underestimated the risk” and the stunt “wasn't safe”.

Mr Harper, from Bradford, said: “I feel lucky to be alive. To anybody else thinking of jumping this waterfall, please do not. It is definitely not safe. I was definitely lucky to get out.

“I was held under for about seven to eight seconds and it was a real struggle to swim to the surface. I thought I’d be okay where I jumped, I wasn't. I behaved recklessly, and am happy to be alive.“

Mr Harper has been involved in extreme sports from a young age and cliff jumping since he was 14.

He visited High Force waterfall on Sunday with a group of friends and fellow cliff jumpers.

The acrobatic trick he performed is called a Tsukahara, which is a turning frontflip into a backflip.

”I'm not a professional, however I train a lot and very hard," he said. “We discussed safety for at least an hour before we jumped, having two people at the water's edge with ropes at the ready.”

The video was captured by Neal Pattinson, who visited the area with his children. “I thought he was just looking down over the edge and then he jumped."

”Obviously it was really silly and it looked really worrying for a few seconds. I was really pleased to see him come back up.”

Mr Pattinson's video has over 400,000 views on Facebook.

On learning of the jump, Durham Constabulary reissued a warning for people not to enter the “extremely dangerous body of water”.

“There have been a number of fatalities over the years," a spokesman said. ”Over the weekend weather conditions were extremely dangerous with water levels being unusually high. The male was incredibly lucky to have left the water unscathed.”

In 2016 Hartlepool teenager Curtis Atherton died after getting into difficulty in the same area.