A five-year-old girl was airlifted to hospital after tumbling 20ft from an upstairs window at her home in Dudley.  The girl suffered leg and back injuries.

The fall happened at about 5.45pm yesterday.

The family live in a maisonette above a row of shops in Albion Parade. The child dropped from a first floor window onto a walkway above the shops.

Andrew Smith, aged 48, who lives two doors from the family said: “I heard a loud thud and then some screaming. At first I thought the girl had fallen off her bike.

“I looked out of the front door and saw the girl’s mother crouching over her, comforting her before the ambulance came. Then about five minutes later she was strapped onto a board and taken off in the air ambulance.”

Mr Smith, who has two sons, aged 17 and 12, added: “It’s worrying that something like this could happen to a little kid.”

An ambulance, a rapid response vehicle, incident support officer and the Midlands Air Ambulance were sent to the scene. The air ambulance landed in a nearby park.

After being assessed at the scene the girl was airlifted to Birmingham Children’s Hospital.

A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said her condition “did not appear to be too serious”. She is believed to still be in hospital today.