A woman in her 40s suffered a serious head injury after an alleged assault in Harold Hill yesterday afternoon.

Romford Recorder: The front door was damaged and boarded upThe front door was damaged and boarded up (Image: Archant)

Neighbours today described the horrific moment the victim was stretchered out of her house in Barnstaple Road.

Bill Swain, 69, of Angmering House, said: “The poor woman’s head was twice the size with all the bandages and these large white pads. And even though she had all that around her, the blood was still pouring out.”

Nearby Carol Payne, of Barnstaple Road, said she had seen the woman being carried out of her house.

“I saw them take the body out. They put a screen up but I could just see the body going into the ambulance.

“The first thing I saw was the police cars. The ambulance helicopter had been parked over the other side.

“It makes me feel awful.”

Neither witness know the victim personally but it is understood she is of Nigerian origin and that her children are staying with a neighbour.

As of this morning a police guard remained posted outside the empty house. The front door appears to have been forced open, with a wooden panel fitted to cover up the damaged lower half. Neighbours said it had not been there earlier in the day, but police were unable to confirm whether the door had been broken in by officers trying to gain access.

A man who lives in the building opposite told the Recorder the area was usually quiet.

“You don’t expect it in the middle of the day,” he added.

The woman has been taken to an east London hospital where her condition is described by police as “serious but stable”.

Enquiries continue.