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Terrified Lyndsey Wilkinson, 22, is convinced the disease-riddled rodents were eyeing up her 19-month-old son Tommy for their dinner.

She was forced to move him from his room after the giant creatures surrounded his cot with droppings.

And dozens of rotting rat corpses fill the wall and floor cavities of her home in Warrington, Cheshire.

That has caused a vile stench, plus an infestation of maggots and flies.

Yesterday Lyndsey said: “My biggest fear is that the rats would try to eat Tommy.

"If they bite my baby, they will kill him.”

“At first we thought the smell was gas but then we found out it is dead rats under the floorboards and in the walls.”

Desperate Lyndsey has tried to poison the beasts attacking her housing association home.

But their remains are suspected of giving Tommy two viral infections.

She explained: “The scratching stops and the smell starts, then the rats burst and the smell goes away.

"But that’s when the flies start.

"In the space of an hour there can be 200.

“People have told me Tommy’s infections could be linked to the rats.

“Tommy’s sleeping in a different room now as there are so many flies.”

Lyndsey, her partner Callum Finney, 22, and Tommy have been plagued with rats since January.

Last night a spokesman for YourHousing said: “We have instructed a contractor to visit her property, and we will meet the charge.

“A further job has been raised to infill holes at the property.”