A THREE-year-old was discovered crying and without any pants on after going missing from her nursery.

Mum Nicole Masterton feared little Brooke had been abducted and froze in fear when she found her little girl's underwear discarded in the garden of her parents’ home.

What Nicole didn’t know was that Brooke had walked out of the playground at Kiltearn Primary School's nursery in Evanton, Scotland.

The tot crossed two main roads and walked half a mile to her gran’s house.

And a neighbour had spotted the crying kid and taken her back.

Tearful Brooke had managed to get into her grandparents garden, wet herself and left her pants and tights.

But it wasn’t until frantic mum Nicole reached the nursery that she realised what had happened.

Nicole, who is ten-weeks pregnant, said: "I was livid. I couldn't even speak. I was shaking with anger.

“My head was absolutely spinning. I couldn't understand it. Why were Brooke's pants there and she was nowhere in sight. So much was going through my mind but the one major thing was 'someone's got her'.

“Brooke could have been killed or hit by a car or abducted.

"There's no security over there and now I'm being told by Highland Council that they can't put in some better security."

'I was shaking and screaming'
She dropped Brooke off at nursery at 9am as normal and went to help her elderly parents with their shopping at Morrisons in Alness.

But when she got back to her parents’ house just before 1pm the scene before her left her frozen with fear.

"The pants and tights I'd put on Brooke were lying in the middle of the garden. I ran over and picked them up and they were all wet... she'd peed herself.

Nicole ran straight to the school and demanded to know where her daughter was.

She said: "I was shaking, I ran in and said ‘where's Brooke?'.

"The secretary lady told me 'Brooke is in class'."

She said staff told her Brooke had gone missing from the playground.

Nicole added: “It was explained that a neighbour who lives next door to Brooke's grandmother found her crying in the garden and had taken her back to school.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Brooke was crying and saying 'mummy I couldn't find you'. I was shaking horribly. It was clear to me that someone had obviously turned a blind eye in that playground. Who in their right mind would allow a child to get out of their sight in a nursery playground?"

Brooke had to cross two main roads and a bridge across a river to get to her nan's.

Nicole said she phoned the cops who investigated but concluded that it was a council matter.

She pulled the child out of the nursery for two months after the incident and only put her back in December, refusing to leave her side and becoming a parent helper in the class.

The mum-of-three claimed the council had turned down her request for better security at the nursery which is attached to the school.

And she is keeping the little girl back from starting school this year unless security measures are put in place.

A Highland Council spokeswoman was unable to say whether anyone had been disciplined over the matter because the authority "does not comment on personnel matters".

She said security arrangements in council properties and schools are confidential.

She explained schools must comply with fire regulations "to allow safe and speedy egress in the event of an emergency", therefore appropriate doors must be kept unlocked from the inside, although locked from the outside, to stop inappropriate access to the school.

She added: "The school has reviewed its policies and procedures to help ensure that children are always kept safe. The family has been contacted by education management."

A spokesperson for the Care Inspectorate said staff had reported the incident and it had "followed this up with the service and will continue to work closely with them to ensure children are kept safe at all times".