Kayakers claim they were forced to rescue swimmers when Reggie the bottlenose dolphin started to "basically drown" two women."

Reggie went viral when he joined swimmers for an early morning dip earlier this month, after becoming a frequent sight in Lyme Bay, Dorset.

He arrived in February, and has since suffered an injury, believed to have been caused by a boat propellor.

UK marine conservation charity ORCA said someone could even be killed by the dolphin if it becomes aggressive - and warned people to stay away.

Now kayaker, Rhys Paterson, 32, said he was forced to intervene, along with another boater, after the dolphin began jumping on top of a woman, swimming off the beach in Lyme Regis, Dorset - pushing her head repeatedly under the water.

Footage shows the swimmer saying "It scared me to death! Oh my goodness!" before being pushed under the waves, on Thursday, August 14."

Rhys, a development director from Lyme Regis, said the filmed incident was not the only confrontation and the dolphin appeared to be "targeting women in wetsuits"."

"We saved two swimmers who were fairly deep, where the dolphin kept jumping on them," he said."

"The dolphin was basically drowning this woman - it kind of jumped on her back four times."

Describing how he and his brother, Gareth, came across the scene, Mr Paterson said: "We had been following the dolphin for a little bit, because obviously, it's quite a local legend at the minute. "

"But when we realised it wasn't playing it was quite a big shock."

"People need to understand that it's not an amusement arcade. It's a wild animal. It can snap all of a sudden if it wants to."

The Marine Management Organisation (MMO) warned the public to keep away from the lone dolphin.

The organisation said human interaction can make dolphins lose their natural wariness, leading to ‘injury or death'.