'I went round and round and my arm fell off': Horror as toddler's arm is ripped off by washing machine after he opens the door



Boy, 3, was able to reach inside while machine was mid-cycle



His mother: 'I can't believe he was able to open the door so easily. It was terrifying. I'm devastated'

Trading Standards officers are examining the rented machine as part of their investigation

Horror: Rachel Wrench, 24, with son Lewis who lost his arm after getting opening the door of a Creda 800 washing machine in the family kitchen in Crewe

A boy of three lost his arm after he managed to climb inside a washing machine during its spin cycle.

Lewis Lightfoot appears to have been trying to help his mother, Rachel Roberts, do the laundry when he suffered the horrific injury.

The door should have remained locked because the machine was switched on but somehow Lewis managed to open it and get inside.

Miss Roberts, 24, found the traumatised youngster screaming in pain in a pool of blood.

Lewis was taken to hospital but doctors were unable to save his arm, which was ripped off just below his shoulder. ‘When I rushed in, the machine was still going. I switched it off and scooped him up and ran screaming to my neighbours,’ said Miss Roberts, a full-time mother-of-four.

‘There was blood everywhere. When I asked him about what had happened he said, “I opened the door and went round and round and round and I banged my head and then my arm fell off”.

‘My daughter Kadie, who is five, came in and saw the state he was in. She’s been very traumatised.

‘I can’t believe he was able to open the door so easily. It was terrifying. I’m devastated.’ Lewis spent eight days in hospital following the accident at his home in Crewe last month.

A friend of Miss Roberts retrieved Lewis’s severed arm and immediately put it on ice but doctors were unable to reattach it. Lewis, who has had three operations so far, is expected to be fitted with a prosthetic limb.

Recovering: Lewis, who has just turned three, may need further surgery after losing his arm in a horrific accident

The front-loading Creda 800 washing machine was rented by Miss Roberts two years ago. It has been taken away by trading standards officials. ‘Overall Lewis has been fine, he’s been very brave,’ said Miss Roberts, whose partner, Terry Lightfoot, 25, a removals driver, was out at the time.

‘He was left-handed but he’s been getting on really well with just his right arm.’

Adjusting to a new life: Lewis Lightfoot before (right) and after his accident where the washing machine in the family home ripped his arm off

Friends have rallied round and are organising a fundraising event and sponsored bungee jump for Lewis this Saturday.

Miss Roberts, who has two other children, Leon, seven, and Kelvin, four, thanked the emergency services for their help.