Parents wrongly accused of abuse

Harry suffers with a blood-clotting disorder

A Worcestershire couple wrongly accused of harming one of their children have told how close they came to losing him.

Natasha and Tony Putnam were accused of deliberately injuring their eleven-month-old son Harry after he fell over while playing with his older brother.

Harry was bleeding profusely and was taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital, where doctors concluded he had suffered an earlier injury which had caused bleeding between the skull and the brain.

What medical staff did not realise was that Harry suffers with a blood-clotting disorder which means the slightest knock can lead to heavy bleeding.

I could have been left looking after a three-year-old with my wife in prison Tony Putnam

The family were later told a scan had been misread and Harry had not suffered an earlier injury.

"I was given four examples of how Harry could have had a significant bleed," Mrs Putnam told BBC Midlands Today.

"They were being dropped from a first floor window, a road traffic accident, being hit around the head with a blunt instrument or being severely shaken."

The couple are not pursuing compensation, but said they wanted to highlight their ordeal in an attempt to prevent other parents going through a similar ordeal.

"I could have been left looking after a three-year-old, with my wife in prison and my 11-month-old son taken away from me," said Mr Putnam.

The Worcestershire Royal Hospital said it had not received a complaint from the family, but the matter would be investigated if it did.