A SOLDIER who brought a teenage girl back from the dead has spoken of the moment he rushed to her rescue.

Rob Clarke, 38, who is stationed in Germany, was on a week-long home leave visit to Basildon when he saved 17 year-old Hollie Tillbrook with some well-time CPR.

Mr Clarke had taken his mum and girlfriend out for lunch at Chiquito, on Basildon’s Festival Leisure Park, the day after he got home when he saw the teenager collapse on the pavement.

As a crowd gathered around Hollie, he ran over and began chest compressions.

He was joined by an offduty Metropolitan Police officer, and the pair spent seven minutes carrying out CPR until paramedics arrived. The soldier, who once served as a bomb disposal officer at Colchester Garrison, admitted he had expected the worst.

He said: “It’s so good to hear she’s alive and kicking.

“She was very lucky me and the policeman were there, because a lot of people standing around didn’t really know what to do. It’s just part of my job.

“I kept thinking about what had happened and wanted to know if she was OK.

“My mum works for a private company associated with the NHS and she tried to ask around, but we couldn’t find out anything because medical records are so private.”

Hollie’s mum, Denise Bennett, of Bailey Road, Leigh, was warned to expect the worst after her daughter was put into an induced coma in hospital.

However, but she began to breathe by herself the next day.

It emerged Hollie had suffered a heart attack after her potassium levels plummeted dangerously low.

She was already suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome and it is thought excessive tiredness caused her to become depressed and develop bulimia.

The teenager returned home from Basildon Hospital after five days.

Mr Clarke had returned to Germany by the time the Echo ran Hollie’s story, so was shocked when friends and relatives got in touch to tell him about the media storm.

He has since exchanged emails with Hollie’s mum, who turned to the Echo in an effort to find the men for saved her daughter's life.

Hollie said: “His family must be so proud.

“I’m so pleased Rob has come forward. I was really upset because he wasn’t getting any recognition for something so amazing.”