A man had to be cut free from barbed wire after becoming stuck for an hour in an attempt to get home after a night out.

Fire crews freed the man from the wire, in Windsor Avenue in Clacton, after he became trapped as he climbed a fence at his house in an effort to not wake up the rest of his household.

He was discovered hanging upside-down at around 3am this morning after a neighbour heard his screams, and was freed just after 4am.

Kieran Warner, watch manager at Clacton Fire Station, said: "When we arrived we were faced with an extremely distressed young man - he couldn't feel his feet and he was in a lot of pain - we estimate he had been hanging upside down for at least an hour.

"Although our main priority was to cut through the wire to release him, it was also just as important to calm him down and reassure him about the situation and his recovery.

"Once we had cut the man's ankles free we worked with the ambulance service to safely bring him down to ground level, keep him warm and get him into the ambulance.

"This was a very different kind of incident for us, and to see the fantastic job our crews did at reassuring and rescuing the casualty, as well as the way emergency services worked together to keep him calm and safe, was extremely rewarding."