Firefighters and police rescued a two-year-old boy found dangling perilously from a second-floor window while his mum was at the shops. 

The 37-year-old mum was arrested on suspicion of child neglect after passers-by spotted the toddler hanging from a window ledge in South Norwood, sparking a dramatic rescue mission yesterday morning. 

Police forced entry to the woman's house in Egerton Road just after 9.10am and pulled the boy to safety. He was unharmed. 

The boy's mother returned home while police, the London Fire Brigade and the London Ambulance Service were on the scene. 

She told police she had left her son, who had been ill, sleeping while she went to the shops. 

Officers arrested her and later cautioned her for child neglect. 

Inspector Harvey Martin, from the Metropolitan Police's Croydon branch, said: "The child's mother made an extremely misguided decision to leave her two-year-old son at home on his own.

"Young children should never be left at home without adult supervision.

"It also serves as a stark reminder to all during this hot weather to be careful leaving windows open, where toddlers and young children might be able to reach.

"Fortunately in this case, the child came to no harm, but were it not for members of the public seeing him in danger and contacting emergency services, we could have been talking about a much more serious incident."

A London Fire Bridge spokesman said it sent one fire engine and five fire fighters from Woodside station and used specialist equipment, including a ladder, to help to boy to safety.