A HEROIC neighbour broke a rib and one of his fingers to save three children and their mother from a burning block of flats in Newport.

Richard Ruck ,39, a security guard, who used to serve in the Welsh Guards, lives on Commercial Road, opposite Mariner's Court flats in Pill, where a suspicious fire broke out late on Tuesday night. Sixteen people were eventually rescued from the blaze.

While others stood watching the fire and the hysterical occupants of the flats, Mr Ruck realised lives were at risk and took action.

He said: "I heard shouting and looked outside. There was a man shouting from one of the windows and I saw lots of smoke coming from the building.

"I rushed down and saw this family with three children in a first floor window.

"The woman was hysterically screaming for help."

At first Mr Ruck tried to get in through the main entrance to rescue them.

But, he said: "There was just a big black hole where the stairs had been, still on fire."

So he went back out to the street and told the woman to throw the children down from the first floor to him.

One by one, the six foot two inches tall 18 stone ex-serviceman caught the children, who he guesses were under the age of five, and passed them to local girl Kesha Webb, 22.

Then he looked up and saw the children's mother climbing out of the window too.

He said: "I was going to tell her to lower herself down by hanging from the ledge to reduce the force of her fall, but she was scared and panicked so she just jumped."

Mr Ruck caught her, but she still broke her foot in the fall, and he broke a rib and a finger through the impact.

But he said it was worth it to see they got out safely.

"I'm a great believer in fate," he said.

"And I'm just glad I was under that window that night."

The family were taken to hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation and the woman's injured foot.

He then tried to find a safe way to bring another family down from their second floor flat, but then the fire brigade arrived and he was able to hand the rest of the rescue operation over to the professionals.

Amazingly, this is not the first time Mr Ruck has saved people from a burning building.

When a fire broke out at the Welsh Guards depot in Purbright in 1991, he pulled several people to safety, earning a Queen's gallantry medal.

And as if this were not enough, Mr Ruck, who is originally from Monmouth, is now appealing for people to help him raise a collection for the victims of the fire, to help them rebuild their lives.

He said: "A lot of the occupants didn't have a lot in the first place. To see them throwing out belongings which have been ruined by smoke damage is heartbreaking."

* Anyone wishing to contribute to the collection can make their donation at the Top of the Range club in Pill.