A woman is in a serious condition in hospital after falling out of window and plunging more than 50ft to the ground.

Emergency services were called to Madeira Mansions in Maderia Place, Brighton, just before midnight last night.

The woman, in her 30s, had fallen out of a fourth floor window, hit a sloping roof and then fell a further 15ft into a concrete basement.

Firefighters had to use ladders and and safety harnesses to help a doctor and paramedic get to the woman, who was still conscious.

Dr Alan Pearce from the emergency medical charity SIMCAS, together with paramedic Sean Barron from the South East Coast Ambulance Service gave her an anaesthetic to relieve her pain.

Firefighters forced their way into a derelict shop in St James Street to get access to the basement so a stertcher could be used to bring the injured woman out.

She was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton with multiple injuries.

The woman had been trapped for nearly two hours.