Father warns of window blind dangers after daughter's neck became trapped in cord

A child can be killed in seconds by a window blind cord

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A father whose daughter almost died after getting tangled in a window blind cord wants every parent to see these pictures.

Four-year-old Crystal Williams got her neck caught up in the cord, and it was only because her mum Laurie was close by and heard her cry out that she didn’t die.

Now her father Karl has shared a photo of his daughter after she was cut free, with a bright red mark still around her neck.


 The shared image shows the deep red mark on the girl's neck 
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The youngster had climbed onto the living room windowsill at home when she got caught up in the cord that opens and closes the window vents.

Sharing the photos as a warning to other parents, Karl, 46, said: "If your windows have vents in with cord to open and close then remove the cord now if you have young children.

"Our daughter was found on the windowsill with the cord wrapped so tight around her neck and she had to be cut free, lucky enough she was found in time by her quick thinking mum.

"We could have lost her, children will climb on a windowsill regardless of how you try to stop them."

A typical blind cord, which has caused the deaths of numerous young children (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Speaking from his home in Flintshire, north Wales, Karl said: "She had climbed on the windowsill and she must have started playing with the cord but wrapped it around her neck.

"She then tried to leave windowsill. Her mum acted so quick, she was in kitchen and heard her cry out, our Crystal was so lucky."

Laurie added: "She had been standing on the windowsill in the front room. Where we live backs onto farmland, so there's always lots to see out of the window.

"She had put the pull cord over her head - the two cords had already been tied up when we moved in - and had gone to jump off the windowsill onto the couch which is right against the window.

"She got stuck with the cord wrapped around her neck, she must have slipped and just screamed. I had to cut the cord from around her neck, it was very scary.

"But Crystal being four is completely oblivious as to how lucky she actually is, it could have ended a whole lot worse."

Earlier this year, the risks associated with the cords were being highlighted in a video by the Public Health Agency.

The film showed how quickly a young child got caught up in a blind cord while his parents were distracted in the kitchen.

The PHA produced the video in association with local councils in Northern Ireland after three blind cord deaths there in the past three years.

At least 31 children have died in the UK since 1999, including toddler Bronwyn Taylor who died last April after her neck was caught in a window blind cord at her grandparents' home in Stoke-on-Trent.