A basejumper threw himself off a cliff, shocking walkers below as he landed on the beach.

On Saturday evening a man was seen at the top of West Bay's East Cliff before jumping around 150ft off the cliff, made famous by ITV series Broadchurch, to the beach below.

Local photographer Neil Barnes was at West Bay at the time and managed to capture some photos of the basejumper.

He said: "I saw the guy on top of the cliffs like I've seen lots of people on the top there and I couldn't quite make out if he was a base jumper or not - I was on the pier, quite a way away - but he was going backwards and forwards to the edge for quite a few minutes, I thought he might jump but couldn't see a parachute. When he did I was somewhat relieved he had one.

"It wasn't until I got home and looked at the pictures and enlarged them I could see the people at the bottom looked rather shocked by his sudden appearance."

A basejumper also threw themselves off the same West Bay cliffs on a bank holiday weekend in May 2017 while the beach was very busy.

This was caught on camera by Graham Hunt who said at the time: "I can't believe I've just seen a basejumper leap off that cliff on one of the busiest days of the year when there are hundreds of people sunbathing on and walking along the beach.

"If he had slightly caught the wind or misjudged it he could easily have landed on the people below.

"It was a ridiculous thing to do and everyone was in shock because it was just so dangerous, it was Bank Holiday madness."

A spokesman for West Bay Coastguard said it is not illegal, but is dangerous.

They said: "Due to the lower altitudes of the jumps, the practice is considered much more dangerous than skydiving and East Cliff is only 150ft high which allows for only a small margin of error when deploying a parachute.

"Falling debris and rocks from our unstable and fragile cliffs is a very real possibility, as is the danger to unsuspecting beachgoers below.

"Basejumping itself is not illegal in this country but there can be associated offences involved including trespassing on private property to achieve the jump and these matters are dealt with by the police."