A seven-year-old girl spent two weeks not realising she had broken her leg.

Sophie Minton had a fall at school and afterwards went trampolining, ballet dancing and swimming - only occasionally complaining of a sore knee.

But a fortnight later, she was taken to Worthing Hospital, where doctors X-rayed her right leg and discovered she had broken it.

Experts said the vertical fracture of her leg from below the knee to the shin was consistent with falling from a first-floor window and landing on your feet.

Parents Stuart and Julie, of Congreve Road, Broadwater, Worthing, were stunned that Sophie, a pupil at St Mary's RC Primary School, Cobden Road, Worthing, had been able to take part in normal activities with hardly a complaint.

Stuart, who runs Minton's butcher's shop in St John's Parade, Alinora Crescent, Goring, Worthing, said: "She fell over at school and was taken to the medical room with what everybody presumed was a bruised knee.

"The swelling went down over the weekend but the bruising came up and she said it was hurting.

"We took her to the doctor's two days later and he said, it's just swollen, give her some Calpol'. They told her to keep her leg moving and said it would be painful if she didn't keep walking on it."

Over the next fortnight Sophie attended several ballet dancing classes, went swimming and even had a gentle bounce on a friend's trampoline.

But Stuart, 35, was concerned she was still having trouble straightening her keen so he took her to Worthing Hospital's casualty department for a check up.

He said: "They found a crack from just below the knee to the shin, which was consistent with falling from a window. I couldn't believe it.

"There was nothing to suggest she had such a serious injury. You cannot really blame the school or the doctor who first saw her. She was very brave and we are extremely proud of her."

Sophie has now been put in a plaster cast for at least three weeks and will miss her first solo dance performance in the Worthing Music Festival this month.

But the broken leg did not stop her returning to school yesterday after half-term.

Stuart said: "She is a bit of a hypochondriac and is milking it a bit."