"The last time I saw you, you were dead"

GRATEFUL Paul Moore celebrated his 58th birthday with a “special” guest of honour - the man who saved his life just weeks earlier after he collapsed at the wheel while driving home from work.

The father-of-five said he owed his life to off-duty special constable Dean Ledwood, who leapt into action when Paul suffered a cardiac arrest and performed CPR on him until paramedics arrived.

After nearly three weeks recovering in hospital, Paul tracked down the mystery hero to thank him for saving his life and gave Dean - who assumed Paul had died - another shock.

Dean (24) said: “It was strange hearing from him - I think I assumed he was dead as he didn’t have a pulse when I was working on him.”

Dean, who visited Paul at his Bramley home on Tuesday to wish him happy birthday, added: “It was surreal to see him, I said: ‘The last time I saw you, you were dead’”.

Metal worker Paul, of Westminster Close, fell ill after leaving work on July 13 on Hellaby Industrial Estate.

Paul, who also has two step-children, said: “I remember getting into the car and starting it, but I never made it out of the estate.

“The next thing I remember was waking up in hospital five days later after being in an induced coma.

“In hospital, all I kept thinking about was how close I had come to a different outcome, at the forefront of my mind was that I wanted to find the guy who had saved me.”

Special constable Dean only happened to be in the right place at the right time after turning around to avoid traffic after leaving a South Yorkshire Police training day on the estate.

Dean, of Shiregreen, said: “The traffic was horrendous on the motorway so I decided to go the long way round.

“But then there was a queue of cars on the estate which began turning round because a car was blocking the road.

“When it was my turn to turn around I noticed through the back window that the driver in the stopped car was slumped to the left.

“I thought something was wrong and when I pulled up alongside him I could see he was really pale and biting his tongue.”

Dean, who has been a voluntary bobby for four years, said Paul was unresponsive and looked dead, so he pulled him out of the car and began CPR while another passer-by called for an ambulance.

After a few minutes Paul began vomiting and colour returned to his face, said Dean.

“Another off-duty special who had been at the same training day, who I didn’t know, offered his help so we began taking it in turns to do chest compressions for around 15 minutes until the ambulance came,” he added.

Dean, who works full-time as a train guard, then drove home and didn’t know if Paul had survived.

He had been due to go on a date that night, but despite his heroics, his date cancelled on him.

“When I phoned her and told her why I was going to be late I think she thought I was lying,” added Dean.

Paul, who is still recovering at home, also returned back to the Northern General Hospital on his birthday to thank the medics who cared for him and gave presents over to them instead.