A QUICK-thinking worker helped save a woman who had plunged into a Worcester canal after he heard her screams from his office window.

Gary Whenman was working at his desk at Misys in Buckholt Drive, Blackpole, when he heard someone screaming for help.

He looked through his first-floor window and spotted the woman struggling in the water.

The 24-year-old ran out of his office and hurdled a fence to reach the woman, who was desperately grabbing on to her husband's hand.

Mr Whenman helped the man haul her out of the Worcester to Birmingham canal as the drama unfolded at 3pm on Monday.

"It all happened in an instant really," said Mr Whenman, of Rainbow Hill.

"One minute I was working and the next I heard the screams.

"It took me a minute or so to get to her. At that moment I didn't realise her husband was with her."

Mr Whenman said the pair had been on a boat when the woman, thought to be in her 40s, tripped and fell in.

"I asked if she was OK and she said she'd be fine," he added.

"I was just relieved she was all right. They thanked me and I walked back into my office, where my colleagues were all cheering and clapping me."

The hero dad said the week had started with a drama of his own.

"I've had a really busy few days," he said. "On Saturday night my first child was born, so it's all been a bit hectic."

Mr Whenman's son, Alexander, was born five weeks premature and weighed in at 4lb 10oz.

"They say things happen in threes," said the IT consultant. "I think I'll put the Lottery on this week."