Window cleaner Robin Salkeld was airlifted to hospital on Monday lunchtime after he fell from a ladder and through a conservatory roof of a house at The Green, Marlborough.

Mr Salkeld, of Church Street, Great Bedwyn, was taken to Frenchay Hospital, Bristol with severe lacerations.

He was cleaning an upstairs window of a house belonging to Trevor and Sally Brown when the accident happened at around 12.30pm.

Sgt Barry Reed of Marlborough police said officers were called to Marlborough Common to clear the area so the air ambulance could land.

Steve Pascall, who lives opposite the house in Oxford Street, saw the ambulance arrive. He said: “I don’t think anyone was home because Tony was called and arrived home at the same time as the police.”

Mr Pascall who knows Mr Salkeld as he is their window cleaner said: “We feel sorry for him because Robin is such a super guy, so helpful.

“It’s so sad when this happens to anybody, but when it happens to someone like him, who is so helpful, it is an absolute tragedy.”

Mrs Brown said today: “I do not want to say anything without checking with his wife first.”

A spokesman for Wiltshire Air Ambulance said: “A patient who fell 30ft from a ladder and through a conservatory roof was airlifted to a major trauma centre.”