Former paratrooper from Havant officially a Guinness world record breaker after 42 metre plunge into the Solent

John Bream’s 140ft plunge is the highest jump from an aircraft into water without the aid of a parachute.

Daredevil John carried out the stunt to raise funds and awareness for service personnel mental health charity All Call Signs and the Support Our Paras charity.

After having the record validated John said: ‘This is fantastic. It really makes all the hard training, long drives, early mornings and cold water worth it.

‘There was a lot of information which had to go back and forth to the Guinness Book of Records and so to have everything finally all come together is brilliant.’

As well as raising awareness of the mental health issues experienced by veterans the jump also raised £2,000 for the chosen charities.

John added: ‘I’ve been in war zones and to then come home and lose friends to suicide is terrible.

‘I'm so happy to have raised the awareness of veteran suicide and to help as I tackled this huge challenge.

‘Having served with some of the finest people, hearing about veteran suicide and knowing good people that have sadly taken their own lives is so painful.’

The former paratrooper momentarily fell unconscious after hitting the water at 80mph and after exiting the sea he was taken to hospital as a precaution. However the only area to suffer any damage was John’s backside which was left with bruising.

Speaking immediately after the jump he said: ‘It was supposed to be perfect pencil but I had my backside out a bit. And it was a little bit higher than planned.

‘We were going to go for 130ft (39.6m) and we ended up at 140ft (42.7m).’

SEE ALSO: Former paratrooper eyes up breaking two Guinness World Records leaping from helicopter into sea off Portsmouth coast

The 34-year-old’s safety team had estimated he would submerge to between six to eight metres after entering the water.

Not content to be an official world record holder, John said he had ‘more daredevil stunts in the pipeline’.

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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