Sheffield mum finds five-inch knife in baby’s toy from Poundstretcher

Gina Barrett, of Gleadless, could not believe her eyes when little Poppy put the blade in her mouth after pulling it from a children’s plastic tool set, from Poundstretcher.

The 11-month-old had been given the present from her dad, Stewart Watts, aged 32, when he returned on leave from the Army base in Catterick, where he is based with the Yorkshire Regiment.

Gina, aged 24, said: “I am disgusted. How could something like this happen?

“Luckily Poppy did not get hurt, because Stewart was with her, but she is at the age where you can leave her to play with things. She’s always putting things in her mouth.”

Gina, who owns G Boutique on Morland Road, Herdings, said Stewart bought the gift earlier this month for £11.99 and gave it to Poppy when he returned home.

The set was in a train-shaped case and had plastic tools inside such as a drill and spanner.

She said Stewart opened the toy and gave it to Poppy, but had not seen the knife inside.

Gina said: “The kit is in a train set and all the tools are inside and there is spaces for them all to fit in.

“My partner opened it, but didn’t see the knife and put it down for Poppy to play with.

“She took all the tools out and they were on the floor.

“She picked up the knife and that was when Stewart noticed it. She put the shiny bit of the knife in her mouth.”

“It’s a knife with a long blade with cardboard wrapped around part of it.”

She added: “The toy had been reduced but it was all sealed up when he bought it.

“We looked on the cardboard on the back of the toy to check that all the tools were in it.”

To add to her frustration Gina called Poundstretcher several times to complain after making the discovery, but did not feel the company were taking her seriously.

She said: “I called several times and nobody rang me back for a few days. I couldn’t believe it.”

Poundstretcher said an investigation had been launched into the ‘unfortunate incident’.

A company spokesman said: “We would like to apologise to Gina and her family.

“Our products are rigorously tested by the manufacturers and we are investigating how this unfortunate incident happened.”