A MUM has hit out after her seven-year-old son was pricked with a needle as he retrieved his ball from a garden near his home.

Julie Harrison, of Arkwright Close, is furious that her son Callum Sloan will now need months of injections to protect him against any possible infections.

She said: "All he did was go to get his ball back and he got pricked by one of these needles and I was so scared that he could catch something absolutely awful from it.

"We took him to hospital and they are giving him injections every month so he doesn't catch anything but I'm petrified that it could affect him in the long term somehow.

"Callum is really scared because we don't know what that needle had been used for and perhaps we don't want to know.

"We reported this to Riverside Housing as soon as it happened and a week later the syringes are still in the garden which I don't think is good enough."

Neighbour James Cuffe, 63, decided to clean up the garden himself to make sure no-one else was injured by the needles.

He said: "I've picked up about 30 of them and it is absolutely disgusting.

"Whether they have been used to take illegal drugs or not they should not be left lying around.

"A young lad has been pricked by one of them and if I hadn't cleaned them up then perhaps other people would have been too.

"The boy's mother must be going through hell and I can understand why because you just don't know what was on that syringe."

Speaking yesterday, Tuesday, a Riverside Housing spokeswoman said: "We would like to thank the residents of Arkwright Close for their vigilance in reporting the syringes found in the garden of one of our properties. Those which were accessible have now been safely removed.

"The remaining syringes which were deep within some overgrown bushes will be removed today with the aid of cutting equipment.

"We urge all members of the community to continue to act responsibly by contacting us."

Riverside Housing can be contacted on 0845 111 0000.