Screams of horror as man plunges from hotel

Trained negotiators from North Yorkshire Police had spent nearly two hours trying to coax the man away from the window at the Ramada Encore Hotel, in Micklegate.

But shortly after 5pm, yesterday, he leaned back and pushed himself off the window ledge and plunged four storeys onto the street.

On the ground below, passing clergymen prayed for the man and helped to comfort distressed eye-witnesses.

They had screamed and shouted "oh no!" as the man fell. Some cried as the realisation of what had just happened hit home.

The man was taken to hospital by paramedics at 5.30pm.

Police said earlier today the man was in a "stable condition" in hospital, but the next 24 hours would determine his chances of survival.

The drama began at about 3.20pm when police and firefighters were called to the hotel following reports that a man was threatening to jump.

Sergeant Guy Wilson, of North Yorkshire Police, told The Press the man had been throwing items on to the street, forcing officers to close the road.

With a police cordon in place between The Parish bar and Budgens supermarket, crowds gathered at either side to watch the unfolding events.

The street was littered with glass as the negotiators tried to talk down the man, who swayed around the window ledge.

From time to time, he disappeared into the room, but returned later and was seen smiling with the negotiators. At times, he appeared to be in something of a trance with glazed eyes.

At Sharp hairdressers, in Bridge Street, manager Tony Bookham, 38, saw the man plummet to the ground.

"I am really shocked," he said. "He was up there for two hours and I never thought he would jump. I feel really sick and I am gutted for him. It will stay with me for a long, long time. The police did all they could."

Before the tragedy, James Gilbertson, 24, a hairdresser at Sharp, said he saw the man at the window throwing glasses and other objects out of the window onto the street below. He said the man was swearing and making rude gestures.

"He was calling everyone names and the police blocked off the road when he started smashing things and threatened to jump," James said.

As the negotiators continued their efforts to talk him down, firefighters were on standby with an aerial ladder equipped with a cage.

The officers talked to him, as he leaned out of the window coughing and spitting on to the street. Wearing a black top, he kept pullingthe hood up and over his head and then back down again.

In the cordoned-off street, workers at the shops and offices were in limbo, but were able to pass through the lines of police tape at the close of business.

While the two fire engines, along with a team of paramedics, were on stand-by, half-a-dozen police officers redirected traffic.

A worker at Langleys Solicitors, in Micklegate, said: "He's been there since about 3.30pm. He was there and then he went away and came back again.

"The police have blocked the roads off and they're talking to him from one of the windows. People are shouting up to him from the street and the police are telling them off."

A worker at the Ramada Encore Hotel said: "I believe he is a guest at the hotel."

Christine Wilkins, who works at Sietech, in Micklegate, said: "All I know is that he's a young lad - he looks like he could be in his mid-twenties.

"There are people outside, but they've been moved back from the hotel. The roads are blocked at North Street and George Hudson Street. There were policeman shouting up to him, but I was too far away to hear what he said."

Shortly after 5pm, the man disappeared into the room. Moments later he returned, lent backwards out of the window, pushed his bare foot against the brick frame, and fell.

Immediately, firefighters sprinted to their appliances to fetch tarpaulin and erected a screen around the injured man.

Paramedics raced to his aid, while police officers quickly dispersed the crowd. An ambulance left the area at 5.30pm.

Mr Bookham, at Sharp, said: "I will need a stiff whisky tonight to help me sleep. It's awful."

:: Timeline

3.20pm: A man appears at window of top-floor room at the Ramada Encore Hotel, in Micklegate, throwing glasses on to the ground below. He threatens to jump

3.25pm: Emergency services arrive. Road is cordoned off.

3.40pm: Police negotiators talk to the man and try to coax him down.

4pm: Clergymen pray for the man from the street below.

4.30pm: The man appears increasingly spaced-out, swaying out of the window and laughing.

5pm: The man disappears into the room. He returns and leans back out of the window, pushing himself off with his feet. Paramedics run to his aid. Firefighters erect tarpaulin to cover the grim scene.

5.30pm: The man is taken away in an ambulance.

Updated: 16:21 Friday, May 26, 2006