A bystander carries the child to safety

A baby boy fell 30 feet onto a flat roof above a parade of shops and then, dazed and bleeding, staggered towards the edge - and another 20 foot drop - as passersby screamed in horror.

The one-year-old tot plummeted from the third floor of six-storey Downs Court in Amhurst Road after crawling out of an open window on Tuesday afternoon (May 22).

Crowds of people at the busy junction of Pembury Corner, in Lower Clapton, witnessed the incident, and shouted to the injured child to stay where he was, fearing he would tumble off the roof.

A quick-thinking bystander ran into the building and clambered out of a first floor window to scoop up the bruised and bloody baby, while another passerby grabbed a ladder from a shop so he could bring the child down to safety.

Sharon Barrett, manager of Social Care 4 U Ltd in the parade, witnessed the incident and said: “Everybody was screaming, and then the mother ran down on to the street. She was screaming and was very distressed – she was saying she’d just been in the toilet.

“A guy got on to the ledge to get the baby and somebody flagged down a passing police van.”

A spokeswoman for Hackney Police said: “The one-year-old male infant was conveyed to an east London hospital, where it was established that he had sustained a broken jaw. His injuries were not deemed life threatening or changing. Enquiries are ongoing.”