A FIVE year old girl is in a serious condition in hospital after she was knocked down in Deane.

The little girl was airlifted from nearby Haslam Park to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital after she was hit by a red Peugeot just before 2.35pm on Hawthorne Street yesterday afternoon.

Neighbours say the accident happened after a wedding at St Ethelbert's RC Church, and they could hear screaming from roads away.

Police shut off the road and took the car, belonging to a female driver, away. 

Cheryl Foster, who lives on adjacent Melbourne Road, said she was told about the incident by a group of lads.

she said: "They could see the girl on the ground and there was a lot of blood.

"It was horrible. Everybody was going on about the crash on Willows Lane, but there was a little girl knocked over here.

"The cars speed along, but I don't think anyone has been knocked down before."

Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said her son came home to tell her what had happened.

She said: "He said she was on the ground and was in a bad way.

"I didn't want to go and look."

Parish priest at St Ethelbert's, Fr Duncan McVicar, said it was not clear whether the child had been attending the wedding at his church.

He said: "I've yet to speak to the bride and groom to find out if she was attending their wedding. 

"Nobody knows what happened - I went to speak to some residents and nobody is clear what happened.

"It's really tragic.

"Kids run out onto the road all the time but it is usually very quiet - at the moment you could hear a pin drop outside."

The collision reconstruction unit of Greater Manchester Police are working to identify the circumstances of the crash.