A POLICE watchdog has launched an investigation after a teenager fell 17 storeys to her death at a Woolwich tower block when officers arrived to arrest her.

Shanice-Paris Goff, aged 18, of Beddington Road, St Paul’s Cray, fell from a bedroom window in Hastings House, Mulgrave Road, on Tuesday morning.

Shortly before, two plain clothes police officers had arrived to carry out a routine arrest enquiry regarding a recall to prison.

Ms Goff was out on licence after serving part of a three year prison sentence for robbery and assault from May 2009.

Also known as Sherise Steabler, she was released in April last year and her parole licence was revoked three months later because she had failed to register with her probation officer, which was part of her early release conditions.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating why the Met Police allowed Ms Goff to be left unsupervised in a bedroom prior to her fall.

It will also look at why officers attended and review accounts given to police by the male tenant and a female witness who were at the address.

IPCC Commissioner Sarah Green said: "At this time our thoughts and sympathies are with the family and friends of Ms Goff. This is a tragic and shocking incident in which a young woman has lost her life.

"At this early stage IPCC investigators have reviewed the account provided by the female witness who was at the address at the time, the statements provided by the two police officers at the address and they have examined the property where the incident occurred.

"I determined that the IPCC should investigate the circumstances surrounding the decisions taken by the two officers who attended the address on the day Ms Goff tragically died and also to review any accounts given by the young man and woman who were in the flat with Ms Goff.

"I can verify at this stage that the female witness who was at the scene has provided an account that Ms Goff was alone in a bedroom within the flat, on the 17th floor of a tower block, prior to her fall.

"Ms Goff’s family has today been advised of the IPCC involvement in the case and we will be meeting with them in coming days to more fully explain our role and our investigation.

"I would like to reassure the public that this will be a thorough and robust investigation."