A man has been critically injured after falling face first on to railings in a freak accident in Notting Hill.
The 32-year-old was in his top-floor flat in Pembridge Villas in the early hours of last Tuesday when he dropped his keys out of the window and leaned out to catch them.
As he did so, he fell from the three-storey building and was impaled on a spike below.
Emergency services were called at about 1.50am after neighbours heard his screams.
Mum-of-two Libby Horner, 34, who was woken by the noise, said: “All I could hear was this screaming. But when I looked out of my window it just looked as though there was a drunk slumped over the railings.
“I heard the sirens, and the emergency services were here pretty quickly – before I could get outside to find out what was happening. It woke my kids so I had to reassure them before I could do anything.”
The spike went through the man’s jaw, the back of his eye and into his brain.
Police officers arrived at the scene and tried to keep the man still and calm while he was cut free by firefighters.
Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said: “I was woken up by a man screaming. It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever heard.
“A lot of neighbours must have been woken by it, and there were a few of us out in the street to see what was happening. I could see there was a man leaning over some railings. I thought he was drunk.
“Then the police arrived and I could see how serious it was. I wish there was more I could have done. I really hope he is OK, but it didn’t look good.”
The man stopped breathing, but paramedics managed to resuscitate him and he was taken to St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington.
He remained unconscious until the weekend, when he was woken, and now remains in a stable condition.
The extent of his injuries will not be known until further tests are carried out in the coming days.
