British mother describes finding son dead in tumble dryer

A British woman broke down in tears today as she described the moment she found her four-year-old son dead inside a tumble dryer.

Sonny Gibson was discovered inside the machine by his mother, Anne, at the family home in Ashbourne on July 26 last year.

At an inquest into his death at Derby Coroner's Court, Mrs Gibson said she returned home that morning after spending the night at a friend's house. She had not intended to stay over, she said, but had had a few too many drinks.

Sonny had been left in the care of teenage family members, which was a common arrangement, but was not in his room when she went upstairs that morning.

She told the court: "I said: 'Who's got Sonny up?' and they just grunted at me. Then I ran downstairs and checked where he was and I could not find him."

She rang the police after around 30 minutes of searching and it was when she was checking the house again with a police officer that she made the terrible discovery.

Mrs Gibson fought back sobs as she told the inquest: "I don't know what made me look in the washing machine, and then I opened the tumble dryer door and he was there. I opened the door and he was just curled up."

She said Sonny, who was "very independent for a four-year-old" had been caught by another family member trying to climb into the tumble dryer five or six months before his death.

Mrs Gibson, a care assistant, was arrested on suspicion of child neglect not long after Sonny's death. All charges against her were later dropped.

The court heard from Home Office pathologist Professor Guy Rutty, who told the court that a post-mortem examination carried out on Sonny revealed that he died from injuries which were consistent with the tumble dryer being "active" while he was inside it.