A workman was today recovering after falling 15 feet from a roof.

The 35-year-old BSkyB employee was installing a satellite dish when he fell off a ladder in Blamsters Crescent, Halstead.

The man crashed through a conservatory window before landing on a concrete floor on his back.

The workman was taken to Colchester General Hospital by Essex Air Ambulance at around 9.20am yesterday suffering from lower back pain.

The householder, who didn't wish to be named, said he thought the injury was more serious.

He added: "I thought he was badly injured because he'd come through a glass roof and landed on concrete. I did my best to stabilise him and make him comfortable before the ambulance service arrived and the last I heard he had broken ribs.

"I was in the house at the time and heard a crash. I thought the ladder had fallen off. But my grandaughter came in the room and told me she had seen a man's body fall outside a window."

An Essex Air Ambulance spokesman said the man was lucky to escape serious spinal damage.

He added: "The man was conscious throughout but in some pain. But conveying him to hospital by air ambulance was important because it meant there were less shocks to the spine."

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