A WOMAN'S body was found lying in an alleyway yesterday after she apparently fell 40ft from the fourth-floor window of a block of flats.

The woman, aged 34, was discovered by passer-by Danny O'Malley in an alleyway in the centre of York at about 5.30am.

Police officers sealed off the path, used by children and teachers to reach Bootham School, and erected sheets to screen the body.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death of the woman, who has not yet been named.

Chris Hartley, who lives with his parents, Elizabeth and Bryan, in the Georgian house where the tragedy occurred, said he did not know what had happened to the woman, a friend who had been staying with the family.

Mrs Hartley said they could not comment further on the incident as they were waiting to be interviewed by police.

The woman had recently been among a group of squatters who occupied York's White Swan Hotel.

Yesterday, friend Ruby Robinson, 35, said the woman was originally from Scotland and had campaigned against cruelty to animals.

She said: "She was just a very kind woman. She had so much to give with her life."