A base jumper sparked a £40,000 rescue operation after witnesses mistook him for a suicide leaper.

Horrified witnesses raised the alarm after spotting a man jumping ''to his death'' from the top of a 500-ft cliff in Cheddar Gorge.

His body was seen plummeting to earth between High Rock and Sunset Buttress, two of the highest cliffs in the area. A helicopter was scrambled, police were called, and cliff rescue teams swept the area for the man's body.

But police have now revealed extensive searches of the area proved futile because the jumper was actually an illegal parachutist.

Rather than plunging to his death, he floated safely to the ground and escaped unseen in a parked car. His identity is still a mystery.

The operation on March 15 cost taxpayers between £30,000-£40,000, and put the lives of 15 emergency services workers in danger.

Duncan Massey, from Avon and Somerset Search and Rescue Team, said: ''The helicopter had to travel up from Portland, costs £8,000 an hour and was there for nearly two hours.

''About 15 people were on the scene for four or five hours and all had to take an afternoon off work to help in the search. At a rough estimate I would say these base jumpers cost between £30,000- £40,000, not to mention a great inconvenience to our volunteers."

BASE stands for Building, Antenna, Span and Earth – the four categories of fixed objects jumpers leap from.

Enthusiasts leap from the bare minimum height needed to safely deploy a parachute, making the sport extremely dangerous.