Investigating: Police stand near the ground-floor escalator where the woman fell - Metro

Investigating: Police stand near the ground-floor escalator where the woman fell

A shopper has died after she fell 24m (80ft) from a third-floor balcony in a Primark store.

She was found on the ground floor in a critical condition.

Susan Wood, 57, was given first aid by a doctor who was shopping in the store but she died three hours later in hospital.

Eyewitness Brian Gibson said: 'At first, I thought it was a dummy that had fallen but then I realised that someone had fallen from one of the floors above.

'I was on the escalator when I saw a shadow come down past me – then I heard an almighty thud.

'The impact was incredible. The poor lad behind me was shaking.'

Another shopper said: 'Staff were crying and there was a call-out for any medics to come and help.'

She fell in Primark's Liverpool city-centre store on Tuesday night.

Shoppers had seen the victim moments before, standing near the escalators on the third floor.

Merseyside police said: 'She was taken in a critical condition to Royal University Hospital where she was sadly pronounced dead. A post-mortem will be carried out in due course. Patrols are trying to establish her identity so her family can be informed.

'Detectives are speaking to witnesses and viewing CCTV to establish the full circumstances of the incident.'

Police are not treating her death as suspicious.

This is the second major fall that has happened at the Liverpool store.

In 2008, a girl aged three survived after she slipped through a gap by the third-floor escalator and landed head first on the tiled basement floor – a fall of 30m (100ft).

Evie Parry was in hospital for five months and suffered a cracked skull, brain haemorrhage and fractured ribs.

A spokesman for the store said he was 'extremely saddened' by the woman's death but could not comment further.

The shop has since reopened to the public.