Plymouth toddler dies in window blind accident
A toddler has died in Plymouth after his mother found him hanging by a window blind cord.
Twenty-one-month-old Caden Laine, from the Whiteleigh area of the city, died after being found in his bedroom on Friday evening.
Devon and Cornwall Police said his death was being treated as accidental and the coroner had been informed.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (Rospa) is campaigning for looped blind cords to be made safer.
His mother, Danielle Laine, said she had left Caden's bedroom for just a few minutes to make some milk.
When she returned she found her son hanging from the window blind cord.
It is believed he had climbed onto a chest of drawers near the window before the incident.
Caden had an identical twin brother, Finley, as well as a two-year-old brother, Blake.
Rospa said that since 1999, at least 15 toddlers in the UK had died after being strangled by blind and curtain cords.
Michael Corley, from the organisation, said the cords were something of a "hidden hazard" in most households.
He said: "It's not something that most parents or carers think about."
He said they were a particular risk to toddlers because their heads are bigger in relation to their bodies than adults and their windpipes have not fully developed, making them more susceptible to suffocation.
Research by Rospa into deaths caused by blind and curtain cords showed that in "most cases" they involved children of about 23 months, with accidents often happening in the child's bedroom in the morning or evening when they were expected to be asleep.