A MUM has been left angered after her eight-year-old son found a used needle while playing at a Tidworth children’s centre.

Connor Lloyd was playing with his younger sisters Roseanna and Lacey in the sensory room at Windmill Hill Children's Centre, run by Wiltshire Council, on Tuesday afternoon when he stumbled across the syringe.

His mother Roanna said Connor picked up the needle and immediately showed her what he had found.

“We were playing, we must have only been in there 20 minutes when my eight-year-old said, ‘Mum, look what I’ve found,’ and I was like, ‘oh my God’,” Roanna told the Advertiser.

“I go there because it is a safe place for me and my kids, you wouldn’t expect anything like this.”

Roanna said she shouted to centre staff immediately and spoke to the team about where the needle could have come from.

“They do a baby clinic there but it should have been disposed of properly. I won’t let this go, I want to make sure that it isn’t going to be swept under the carpet.”

The mum-of-five said that staff were unable to say where the syringe had come from but assured her that the incident would be looked into.

“I said to him [Connor], ‘good boy for telling me’, then I shouted and propped the door open and a member of staff said, ‘oh my God, this is not right at all’.”

Roanna continued: “They are getting this investigated further but this shouldn’t have happened. I think they owe my son a huge apology, he needs someone higher up, a professional, just to explain to him because it is going to be playing on his mind.”

And Roanna is hoping that Connor’s school, Castle Primary, in Ludgershall, will be able to speak to him.

She added: “He was really quiet coming home. I kept reassuring him that he had done the right thing, but he said he felt scared.”

Speaking yesterday, Roanna said: “I’m shaking, I feel a mixture of emotions. I’m angry, upset and cross. I don’t think I will take my children back to the children’s centre.”

A Wiltshire Council spokesperson said: “We are aware of an incident at Tidworth Children’s Centre. The centre offers a number of activities, including a health clinic where needles are sometimes required to take blood. A full investigation is now being undertaken at the site, and it would be inappropriate to comment further until this has been completed.”