WILTSHIRE TIMES EXCLUSIVE: A FOUR-YEAR-OLD Trowbridge girl is fighting for her life after plunging 20ft out of a first-floor window while playing a game of hide-and-seek.

Jackie-Danielle Velvick was hiding behind a curtain in her older brother's bedroom when she lost her balance and toppled backwards out of an open window.

Mother-of-three Cher Velvick found her daughter lying on the concrete path at their Longfield Road home with serious head injuries after the accident on Monday.

Miss Velvick is keeping a round-the-clock vigil at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol as surgeons try to save her youngest child's life.

At the time of going to press on Tuesday lunchtime, Jackie-Danielle was still in the operating theatre with her anxious mother waiting for news.

A spokesman for the Bristol hospital described the four-year-old's condition as critical.

Jackie-Danielle, a pupil at Longmeadow Primary School, was rushed to the Royal United Hospital, Bath after the accident at 7pm.

The schoolgirl was transferred to the intensive care ward at Frenchay Hospital later that night and taken into theatre.

Family friend Pauline Fortune was in tears as she described the four-year-old as a "beautiful little girl".

Speaking from the Velvick's terraced home, she said: "We are all waiting for her to come out of the operating theatre. We are all so upset.

"She is in a critical state and might need to be taken to another hospital in Birmingham.

"Her mother is too upset to comment until after the operation.

"It is not looking very hopeful. She is such a beautiful girl. We are waiting for news."

The accident has sent shockwaves around the tight-knit Longfield estate with neighbours left stunned.

One neighbour said Jackie-Danielle had been hiding behind a curtain in her elder brother's bedroom, just moments before plunging out of the window.