A stranger who came across a “distressed” young man said she couldn’t pass by and “do nothing”, as she revealed what she did to save his life.

Gillian Assor, 48, from Elstree, was walking her dog Joey, with her husband, on one evening in May, when they came across 23-year-old Tommy Beddard in Borehamwood.

“It wasn’t our normal route but it wasn’t out of the ordinary to go that way”, she remembers.

“But I could see someone on their own and stood for a few second but I couldn’t work out what was happening but I could see they were distressed. I turned to my husband and said ‘I’m going to go over and see what I can do’.

Mrs Assor went over, with Joey in tow, but Tommy began walking away hysterical.

But Mrs Assor was able to calm him down and they sat and began to talk.

“I can’t remember really what we spoke about and it probably didn’t make any sense and in the end I think it was Joey that distracted him. He asked if we could be friends and I said yes”.

Mrs Assor convinced Tommy to call his parents and then arrived to pick him up and that was the last the pair saw of each other.

Until Tommy appealed on Facebook to find the woman who saved him that evening.

Mrs Assor’s husband saw the post and realised immediately that it referred to his wife. He came into the room shouting “you’re wonderful, amazing” and his wife stared back at him blankly but then he told her why.

Recalling seeing Tommy again, Mrs Assor said: “I walked into the Alfred Arms but I couldn’t see Tommy and then all of a sudden he walked over to me and gave me a massive hug, clung to me and said that I had saved his life. It was mind-blowing. There is a real bond between us now. I was there in the right place at the right time.”

Read more: Man recalls moment stranger saved his life