A father who witnessed the aftermath of a shopping mall plunge victim's death today pleaded with centre managers: "Please stop it happening again."

Tom Stringer was with his young son in County Mall, Crawley, when the man, a 26-year-old local man, fell 50ft on to the concourse in front of hundreds of shoppers.

The victim hit a woman shopper as he fell, but she miraculously escaped serious injury.

Tom Stringer, of Pound Hill, near Crawley, was shopping in the Suit Company shop when the fatality occurred.

Although Mr Stringer did not see the actual fall, he witnessed the distressing aftermath as shocked shoppers watched 999 teams try to save the man's life.

Mr Stringer said: "It was a very unpleasant sight and the emergency services and the County Mall staff appeared to do all they could for the poor man. My son was very shocked.

"This is the second time I have been with my children in County Mall when somebody killed themselves by jumping. The last time was on a Saturday morning several years ago when a Nirvana fan jumped off, smashed into the glass lift, and broke a child's arm in a Lego play area.

"What reasonable care will County Mall be taking to prevent this happening again? I for one do not fancy having somebody land on me while shopping.

"Conversely I don't want them to over react and spoil the aesthetics of the mall as it is a great place to shop."

One possible measure is the installation of safety nets to break a person's fall.

Duncan McKenzie, deputy manager of the County Mall, said: "It will be investigated by the Health and Safety Executive people and anything they come up we will comply with. It is the second incident since 1994.

"We have had about 72 million visitors through the centre since then."

The man who died on Thursday was a black male.

He jumped from the level-two pedestrian bridge at 7.43pm. He died in Crawley Hospital an hour later.

Paramedics were soon on the scene of the incident, but the man's injuries were so serious he could not be saved.

One trader reported seeing the man pull something over his head before he fell.

Police are not treating the incident as suspicious and an inquest will be held.