Two men were recovering in hospital today after falling from scaffolding they were working on at Oxford Crown Court.

The men were part of a team working on the top of the courthouse when they fell from the structure today.

They were working on an ongoing project to renovate the building.

One had to be lowered from the courthouse roof on a stretcher guided by an abseiling firefighter.

Colleagues told how they heard screams and shouts from the two men, from Oxford-based Tony Eldridge Scaffolding Ltd, as they fell an estimated 25ft from scaffolding they were dismantling.

One of the men was Gavin Eldridge, son of the firm's boss Tony, and the other was believed to be Carl Hamlett.

Stonemason Karl Leggett was on the roof when the accident happened at lunchtime.

He said: "One of the guys was lifting a ladder beam when it folded in the middle.

"He was lifting the last ladder beam and as it buckled, it pulled him down with it.

"I didn't really see everything, I just heard a lot of screaming and then saw both guys lying on the ground."

Two fire crews, a specialist rescue team, paramedics and police were called to the scene in St Aldate's, together with health and safety officers who have began an investigation into the incident with Thames Valley Police.

The specialist rescue team helped winch one of the men to the ground, while the other man was eventually led from the rooftop with a suspected broken arm.

Scores of people gathered in the road to watch the rescue, which incident commander Jason Crapper, the station manager at Kidlington fire station, admitted was "unusual".

He said: "The line rescue team from Kidlington performed the rescue and, although they train each week for this kind of rescue, it is rare for them to be used like this."

Rachel Adams, catering manager at Oxford Crown Court, was outside the courthouse when the accident happened. She said: "I didn't see what happened. I just heard the scaffolding come crashing down followed by a lot of screaming and shouting."

Nick Lawrence, an air conditioning engineer, was on the roof at the time of the accident.

He said: "I heard an almighty crash and the men screaming out in pain. They were shouting 'help, help!'.

"Although they didn't fall that far, you could tell they were in a lot of pain and weren't moving much."

Both men were today being treated at the John Radcliffe Hospital and were described as being in a stable condition.