A mother who was falsely accused of abusing her newborn baby has revealed her pain at having him forcibly removed from her care in the crucial first molnths of his life.

Gina Hodgkins, 25, from Leatherhead, Surrey, was arrested when a health visitor reported her to social services after they discovered bruises on her son Teddy's arm at his six week check.

The little boy would later be diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), a condition that makes the skin bruise easily, but not before he was taken away from his parents and placed in emergency foster care for five months.

Speaking on ITV's This Morning on Tuesday, Gina recalled how she sobbed, stunned, at the police station she'd been taken to for questioning after seven officers arrived at her door to take baby Teddy away.

Gina Hodgkins and her partner Joshua Sparkes appeared on This Morning on Tuesday to discuss having their son taken away from them

Social services had Teddy examined by a doctor, who found more bruises on his body.

Five people including social workers and police then came to the family home to arrest her and take the little boy away.

Gina said: 'I didn't know what to feel. I was crying the whole time in the cell. I didn't know what to do... didn't know who to ask.

In the emotional interview, Gina expressed her sadness at having 'missed' so much of her son's life.

Teddy was born with bruises, which mysteriously reappeared when he was just a few weeks old

WHAT IS EHLERS -DANLOS SYNDROME? Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is the name for a group of rare inherited conditions that affect the connective tissue. Connective tissues provide support in skin, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, internal organs and bones. Different types of EDS are caused by faults in certain genes that make connective tissue weaker. Depending on the type of EDS, the faulty gene may have been inherited from one paren, or both. Sometimes the faulty gene isn’t inherited, but occurs spontaneously. EDS can affect people in different ways. For some the condition is relatively mild, while for others their symptoms can be disabling. Some of the rare severe types can even be life-threatening. Source: NHS Direct Advertisement

She called the first few months 'the best bit that [where] you want to bond with them'.

It took months for the case to go through the courts, during which time Gina was not allowed to be with Teddy.

Her mother suggested that Teddy may be suffering from EDS, which Gina and her brother had been diagnosed with.

The case was dropped when a doctor confirmed that Teddy was likely to be suffering from the same hereditary condition.

Teddy was finally returned to the family this month, and a judge has apologised for the mistake.

Speaking on the ITV chat show today, Gina said social services had caused the family 'grief'.

She explained: 'I don't blame them for doing that, but there's a way to go about it, they're causing us grief.'

Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a gene mutation that affects the body's connective tissue, making it fragile and stretchy. One of the symptoms is that the skin bruises more easily. It is known as an 'invisible disability' and affects up to one in 5,000 babies.

Teddy's birth at Epsom General Hospital, on July 9, 2016, with both her partner Joshua and her mother Pauline in attendance, was quick and easy, and Teddy arrived a healthy 7 lb 8 oz.

Gina recalled how she 'cried' in her cell after social workers had taken her son away after his bruises reappeared

Teddy was away from the family for five months while his parents fought to get him back in court

Nevertheless, Gina suspected something wasn't quite right. She previously admitted: 'When my mum took him for a cuddle, she said he looked a bit bruised. There were marks on his arms as well.

'The nurse reassured me it was normal, and was a result of him getting a bit squashed during delivery. But it hadn't been a forceps birth, so I was surprised.'

Back home, over the next few weeks, most of the marks faded. But there were two that never went — bruises on the lower part of both his cheeks.

She said: 'I was taking him to be weighed at six weeks old and the health visitor asked if I had any concerns. I showed her the bruises and she said: 'Yes, I was about to ask you what they were.'

After she was arrested Joshua accompanied Teddy to the hospital with the social workers, where he was arrest for assault.

Gina and Josh had to convince the judge to allow Teddy to be tested for Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), a condition that makes the skin bruise easily

He said: 'They put me in handcuffs in the hospital and walked me out through A&E. It was horrible. People were staring at me. In the police car back to the station, I was shaking with anger and shock.'

Strict bail conditions meant that, for the first fortnight, Gina and Joshua were banned not only from seeing Teddy and daughter Amelia, but also being near any child under 16 - including their nephews and nieces.

After that, they were allowed to see the children once a week for an hour, under strict supervision.

Teddy was eventually placed in Gina's sister's care and Amelia was allowed home, after spending five weeks in foster care.

Gina expressed her regret for missing the 'best bits' of her baby son's life, but said she was relieved the family are back together

They had to wait for the first court hearing three weeks later in September to persuade the judge to allow them to present the information they'd discovered about EDS and get Teddy tested.

Finally, on Christmas Eve, four months after Teddy had been taken into care, the genetic report came through. A Harley Street doctor confirmed that both Teddy and Gina were likely to carry the EDS gene.

All the couple could think of was getting their baby back. It would take another four weeks for Surrey County Council social services to drop the case against them.

Asked about Teddy's case, a Surrey County Council spokesman previously said: 'Any case like this is really difficult, but we can have only one thing in mind and that's the welfare of the child. This case was based on medical evidence provided to us and examined by a family court, which decided it was right for the child to be removed from his parents, and also considered new information when it came to light.'