Man lucky to survive fall

The wife of a Shropshire man who plunged 20ft through a town hall trapdoor after discovering another man's body, today said she was grateful her husband was alive.

Ron Davies fell on to a bench at Bishop's Castle Town Hall, breaking vertebrae, his shoulder and nine ribs. His wife Jill today said Mr Davies was in intensive care at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in a serious but stable condition.

Mr Davies, 63, of High Street, Bishop's Castle, had gone up to the tower to wind the clock up as part of a team of three volunteers who did it on a weekly basis.

He went for help after discovering the body of a man and fell through an unlocked trapdoor when he returned to the tower.

Mrs Davies said her husband had fallen on to a wooden bench, suffering nine broken ribs, nine broken vertebrae, a broken shoulder blade and damage to his lungs.

The 55-year-old, a GP in Clun, said: "Ron will be in hospital for a little while. I feel so sorry for the family of the man who Ron found. My husband is alive and speaking.

"My husband was one of three men who wound the clock up every Friday and that's when he found the body.

"There is a staircase and a trapdoor with a ladder but my husband doesn't like the trapdoor. He goes up the stairs which are quite steep and difficult."

Mrs Davies said her husband told her last night how at first he thought the body was a dummy. She added: "My husband isn't one to panic. He went down to get somebody else from the market. While he let the other man pass, Ron stepped on to the trapdoor which should have been locked and it wasn't.

"He fell 20ft through the trapdoor and on to a wooden bench."

Mrs Davies hopes her husband will be moved to the town's Cottage Hospital once his condition has improved.

Inspector Clive Eastwood, of West Mercia Police, said the man's death was being treated as unexplained but police were not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident. The body has not yet been formally identified.

By Kirsty Smallman