THE city centre was brought to a standstill as a young woman was left hanging from a building by her fingertips.

The woman, believed to be in her 20s, was seen clinging on to the windowsill of a third-floor flat in the Hopmarket at about 12.30pm yesterday.

Eyewitnesses said she hung on to the thin sill for about 10 minutes before managing to lift herself on to a ledge. She was then lowered to safety by firefighters at 1.10pm.

Marc Griffiths owns the St Custard's Caf directly below where the incident happened.

He believed the woman had climbed out of the building in an effort to avoid someone or something.

He said: "I saw someone across the road from the caf frantically waving her arms and I went outside to see what was happening. I saw a lady, who had blond hair and was wearing what looked like a pink tracksuit, hanging from the window.

"She seemed to be climbing out to get away from something, I don't think she was committing suicide.

"I tried to calm her a bit, but I had to go back to clear everyone out of the caf. I don't know how she hung on for as long as she did."

Someone else who saw the incident was David Ball, of 3Dtotal.com, which is opposite the Hopmarket.

He said: "She was hanging by her fingertips for a good 10 minutes before she retained her footing and sat on the ledge.

"A policeman with a battering ram seemed to get into the building and hold her from the inside until firemen came and brought her to the ground on a crane. She seemed in shock when she was finally lowered to safety."

A police spokesman said the woman was taken to Worcester Police station.

He said: "Enquiries are on-going to ascertain the full circumstances and the woman was taken to Worcester station for her own safety

"There were two officers at the scene who reacted quickly to make sure the woman did not fall."