By Henry Adderley A Southampton resident received a rude shock on Friday afternoon when her neighbour's wall fell down and plunged into the side of her house.

Jane Smith of Scenic Heights Drive, Southampton, told The Royal Gazette : "The wall came tumbling down.

"If I had been in the washing room or the bathroom I could have been dead or crushed.'' The 75-foot long, 12 foot-high retaining wall fell into Mrs. Smith's yard at around 1 p.m..

Mrs. Smith noted that she was not at home when the wall fell. She said she was at the store buying soap powder to do her laundry with.

But her mother-in-law, who lives nearby, told her she heard a loud sound "like thunder''.

The wall crashed into the side of her house, continued Mrs. Smith, and smashed a gaping hole in her bathroom wall.

It also shattered a glass wall in her washing room, crushed her mother-in-law's shed and destroyed her husband's 15-foot-dinghy which was kept in the yard.

Mrs. Smith said she had spoken to her neighbour and "supposedly the insurance people are coming along with people to clean everything up'' "Everything out there is ruined. It's a mess. It's just like a tornado came through there.

"I think the wall was poorly constructed and I'm sure the rain helped bring it down. Everyone who looked at the wall said it didn't look too good but I'm not a builder.''