WALKERS have been warned to stay away from the edges of cliff tops after a 54-year-old woman is thought to have spent a night injured after falling halfway down a 90ft cliff.

A dramatic dawn rescue was carried out at cliffs near Swanage after a local woman was spotted hurt and distressed 40ft from the cliff top.

As efforts were made to bring her to safety pieces of cliff top and boulders loosened by recent rain hampered rescuers.

Now a warning has gone out to walkers to watch their footing and stay away from potentially loose ground on cliff edges.

Details of how the 54-year-old ended up with a suspected broken ankle on a cliff ledge near Peveril Point are not clear.

But it is thought she may have been stuck on the cliff overnight.

The alarm was raised by a member of public around 7.30am yesterday when the woman was spotted about 40ft from the top of the cliff.

Rescuers from Swanage Coastguard HQ, which was less than half-a-mile away, were quickly on the scene and used ropes to climb down the rock face to reach the injured woman.

Station officer Ian Brown, who took part in the operation, said: "We believe she took a tumble on the area known as The Downs behind Peveril Point.

"She had gone 30 or 40ft feet down the cliff and had a suspected broken left ankle. We put her on a stretcher as paramedics tended her ankle and then we tried to lift her back up the cliff but because there was an overhanging section it proved too dangerous and the Coastguard helicopter from Portland was called in. The woman was conscious and breathing but in pain."

The Swanage coastguard team were assisted by colleagues from St Aldhelms and the Swanage RNLI inshore lifeboat crew who stood by at the bottom of the cliff.

RNLI crewman Kevin Dimarco made his way up the cliff to offer help to the paramedics. The injured woman was taken to Poole hospital for treatment.

Coastguard station officer Ian Brown, said: "I would warn people to stay away from the edges of cliffs at the moment. After the rain we've had the ground is very loose.

"Even during the rescue we had boulders coming down."