A ten-year-old boy has died after falling through a skylight as he tried to retrieve his football.

Jordan Toward was playing football with friends at the Geoffrey Rhodes Centre, Byker, Newcastle, on Friday evening.

The ball became stuck on the roof of the community centre and he climbed up to recover it, but lost his balance and fell through the skylight 14ft to the concrete floor below.

He suffered massive head injuries and was taken to Newcastle General Hospital, where he died on Saturday afternoon.

His devastated parents, Julie and Martin Toward, of Elvet Close, Byker, spoke of the huge loss of their bubbly and sporty son.

Mrs Toward, 36, who cares full-time for Jordan's disabled brother, Martin, 17. said: "We are devastated. The house is so quiet without him."

Jordan was due to begin his final year at Hotspur Primary School in September, and he then planned to go to Benfield Comprehensive School.

He fell through the skylight at about 8pm on Friday. Fire crews from Walker and Pilgrim Street stations were called and paramedics got into the locked centre via the broken skylight.

The emergency crews then used rescue equipment to break down two sets of double doors and carried Jordan out of the building on a stretcher.

Yesterday, the football that Jordan had tried to retrieve was lodged in railings outside the centre. Friends and family had left flowers and messages in his memory.

Mr Toward, 39, a supervisor at Newcastle's Freeman Hospital, said Jordan had been looking forward to seeing his first Newcastle United game at St James' Park.

A Northumbria Police spokesman said: "The accident is being investigated and we would like any witnesses to contact us."