A COUPLE has been left furious after their baby boy was taken from them for nine months - despite them doing nothing wrong.

Lisa Dixon and Andrew Eccles had their six-month-old son, Macauley Eccles, taken away by social services amid fears they had deliberately broken his legs.

And it took a police interview, four civil court appearances and two independent doctor reports for the couple to finally be cleared of any wrongdoing - reunited with their son just before Christmas.

The parents, from Hull, today opened up about the "absolutely horrendous" experience of fighting to get their son back.

Miss Dixon said: "What happened nearly tore me and Andrew apart.

"They just whipped our son away and it felt like they were pointing the finger."

The mum said the nightmare started when she noticed little Macauley couldn't straighten his leg - taking him to Hull Royal Infirmary to get checked out.

She said: "They took some X-Rays and they eventually found a fracture in one of his legs. As it was an unexplained injury the police and social services were called.

"We believed the injury was caused by an exposed metal bar in the travel cot.

"But doctors felt a lot of force must have caused the injury and felt we could have caused it deliberately."

'WE DID EVERYTHING WE COULD'
Young Macauley was taken to live with Miss Dixon's mum, but the parents were not allowed to go see him.

And the situation worsened when doctors found a fracture in their son's other leg.

Miss Dixon said: “We did everything we could to prove we did not injure our own child."

The couple were finally able to get two doctors to attribute the injuries to the travel cot.

Miss Dixon said she didn't want any chances to be taken among kids when it came to their injuries, but said the couple had been treated unreasonably.

She said: "We felt we were doing the right thing by taking him to hospital but it felt like we were being punished.

"I understand social services have to act in situations like this but there just seemed to be a lot of finger pointing and it made us feeling like terrible parents."

Miss Dixon added: "We are slowly piecing our lives back together but it has been hard.

"My son has been with my mum for nine months so we are having to try and bond all over again."

She said social services still checked on the family, only now returning to "some kind of normality".

Hull City Council, which runs social services in the city, says the priority is always the child in such circumstances.

A spokesman said: “As a local authority we put the welfare of every child at the heart of what we do, and decisions like this are never taken lightly. Lisa Dixon and partner Andrew Eccles from west Hull had their son Macauley taken away by social services after they took him to hospital with a fractured leg.

"We work closely with our partners across the board to effectively identify children who are most at risk, so we can protect the city’s most vulnerable children.”

The family are now also considering taking action against the manufacturer of the travel cot.