THREE foolhardy youths danced with death by balancing on the roof of a city centre building to pose for pictures.

The three were spotted on top of the Barnardo’s charity store in West Street, Brighton, on Saturday afternoon, leaving onlookers terrified.

At one point one of the youths slipped – and it could have been a fatal drop had they been on the edge of the roof at the time.

Retired engineer Graham Ennis was relaxing in the cafe at the Waterstones book shop opposite the scene when he was alerted to what was going on.

Mr Ennis, from Hollingdean, said: “One of the customers was sitting staring fixedly.

“I looked, and there were three youths, one of them brandishing a camera.

“They were climbing on the roof of the Barnardo’s shop.

“One of them looked like a young girl, who slipped at one point.

“They were laughing about it though.

“They could have died.”

Mr Ennis, along with around 15 “horrified” spectators, watched the three – who all appear to be male from the pictures – prance along the roof for up to 20 minutes.

Brighton city centre was packed with crowds walking through the streets unaware of what was going on above them, Mr Ennis said.

He had some damning words for the climbers.

“They will either kill themselves or someone who doesn’t deserve it,” he said.

“They were about 50ft high.

“What happens if they fall and land on an innocent old lady or a mother with a pram?

“If they want to do something silly, that’s their own affair.

“But when you put other people at risk, that’s when it isn’t fair.”

Another onlooker told us the activity is called “urbexing” – slang for urban exploring of man-made structures.

The “explorers” go out to climb buildings with an amateur photographer who takes pictures of the activity, he said.