ROBBERS tied up a woman by her hands and legs after raiding an Eastleigh bingo hall this morning.

Shop staff in the busy Leigh Road precinct raised the alarm after seeing the woman screaming for help as she leant out of the upstairs window of Leo Luxury Bingo Hall.

The mother, believed to be in her mid-20s, pleaded for help from passers-by who said her hands were blue and tied with duct tape. She had also been fed herbal anti-stress tablets by the robbers.

The dark-haired woman, thought to work in the club, shouted that she was worried about her children after the thieves took her mobile phone and home address. She shouted her home phone number to people nearby before she disappeared back inside.

Police raced to the scene at 9.10am and an ambulance was also called to the club.

Paramedics checked the woman over but she didn't want to go to hospital.

Jasmine Bills, 46, manager of Help the Aged in Leigh Road, opposite the bingo hall, saw the woman leaning out of a window.

"She said her hands and her legs were tied and her hands looked blue to me. She was very distressed. I tried talking to her to keep her calm while someone went to get the assistant manager of the club.

"The woman was worried about her children because the robbers took her mobile phone and her address details and said they would go and visit her children."

"They are teenagers and I told her the children would be at school to reassure her and calm her down."

Her assistant at the shop had heard the screams first and ran inside the shop to call police.

Lorraine Mills, 32, said: "I heard the window slam open and then there was screaming. I called for my boss and then ran inside to call the police. I was horrified at what was happening. She shouted her phone number to me and I called the woman's house to see if her children were there because she was worried about them. There was nobody home."

Suzanne Jones, 16, from Harewood Close, Boyatt Wood, who was walking past the scene on her way to work as an trainee hairdresser at Charlie Girl in Eastleigh, said: "I saw a woman hanging out of the window. She was screaming and I thought she was messing about. She just shouted 'Help'."

Karrie Collings, 37, manager of Skoolkit, which is also in Leigh Road, said: "You don't expect to see this sort of thing in Eastleigh. We saw the woman. Her fingers were blue and she was very distressed."

Scenes of crimes officers remained at the scene searching for evidence.