Golden retriever helps save woman who fell and 'spent 16 hours' in Darrick Woods

Two-and-a-half-year-old golden retriever Harvey was being walked by owners Alan and Mary Oliver when he ran away and would not come back.

Harvey had shown interest in the area as they walked past but on their way home to Lovibonds Avenue he ran back to the same spot and refused to move.

Mr Oliver, 73, said: “He returned after I called him a few times and I continued our walk thinking nothing more of it.

“However, upon our return he veered off at the identical spot and sat in front of the same tree trunk barking continuously and refusing to come back.

“I went into the wood to investigate and found an elderly lady collapsed behind a fallen tree.

“She was very weak and confused and was convinced that she had fallen over in her garden and thought she had probably been lying there for since earlier that morning.”

He added: “She was barely conscious, she had been out there all night.”

Harvey in Darrick Woods, where he helped to rescue an elderly woman.

Mr Oliver said that the part of the woods where the woman was found was not frequently visited by people.

He said: “I knew something was wrong because normally he might run off but he would come back.”

“She thinks she had fallen down further in the woods and clawed her way through, before giving up and staying there overnight.

“I dread to think what might have happened, where we found her was right in the middle of the woods, where people might not go.”

The London Ambulance Service (LAS) confirmed that they attended the scene and took a woman to hospital.

A spokeswoman for the LAS said: “We were called at 10.41am on Monday, 8 August to reports of a person unwell at Lovibonds Avenue.

“We sent an ambulance crew, a single responder in a car, an incident response officer and our Hazardous Area Response Team to the scene.

“We treated a woman at the scene and took her as a priority to a hospital in south east London.”