Boy hurt in fall on to vodka bottle at Peacehaven playground

The boy needed surgery to save the ligaments in his wrist after the shocking incident at Epinay Park in Peacehaven on Saturday afternoon.

He now has to stay in a cast for four weeks, unable to bend his fingers, in order to allow the ligaments in his wrist to recover.

Emma Budd's two children were playing at the park near their home when she spotted the broken glass on the floor.

Epinay Park in Peacehaven

She was able to scoop her two-year-old daughter to safety, but could not quite reach her son before he fell on to the sharp object.

The 32-year-old said: "He was playing on the metal climbing frame when I noticed the glass.

"It looked like the long, thin bit from the top of a vodka bottle."

"I went to help him but he fell. It made me feel sick.

"He must have fallen directly on to the glass, he didn't roll at all after he landed.

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"There was a lot of blood, and he was crying. He was reluctant to show it to me at first."

But it quickly became apparent that his wounds were serious, and so Emma rushed him to hospital in Brighton.

There, doctors made sure there was no glass in the wound before calling an orthopaedic surgeon to analyse the youngster's injury.

Emma Budd's son will have to stay in a cast for four weeks after the incident in Peacehaven

"They said it would need to be operated on to check the tendons in his wrist," Emma said.

"He had two lacerations on his forearm. I later found out that cut throught 90 per cent of one of the ligaments which helps him to straighten his fingers."

He was taken to the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead on Monday for the procedure.

Emma said: "After the surgery, his forearm was wrapped in bandages and it will have to stay in a cast for four weeks.

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"This keeps his fingers in a bent position so the ligaments can recover.

"We will have to go to the hospital once a week to have the dressing changed as well."

But, despite the traumatic experience, Emma said her son had been courageous throughout and had even asked to go back to school within days of the surgery.

A group of Good Samaritans went and cleaned Epinay Park in Peacehaven the next morning

She said: "He was reluctant to let anybody look at it at first, but since then he has been really brave.

"He had the surgery on Monday, and asked to go back to school today."

Emma, a senior residential support worker, said it looked as though the vodka bottle had been dropped from the climbing frame, and slammed the "selfish" individual who had left the dangerous shards of glass on the floor.

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She posted about the incident on a local Facebook community noticeboard to warn others about what had happened, and was met with a heartwarming response from some Peacehaven residents.

She said: "I posted about it on Facebook, and a group of people went and cleared the park up the next morning.

Emma said her son was 'very brave' and has already asked to go back to school

"My husband went over as well to make sure it was clean, and I will do the same today.

"We just don't want it to happen to anyone else."

A spokesman for Peacehaven Town Council, which maintains the park, apologised for the incident and said it would be "fully investigated". 

He said: "Peacehaven Town Council is sincerely sorry and concerned for the child who was injured while playing at Epinay Park in Peacehaven.

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"The council has a very thorough play areas inspection procedure and I can assure you that this matter will be fully investigated.

"Of course, the council wishes the child concerned a very speedy recovery."