Boy, 3, suffocated while trapped in tumble-dryer

significant shorts

A three-year-old boy suffocated to death after climbing into a tumble-dryer during an innocent game of hide and seek with his pet dog. Jordan Hutchinson's body was found coiled in a foetal position inside the machine shortly after he had been reported missing to the police. His jeans had apparently caught the door, pulling it shut behind him. The machine was not on.

Paramedics fought to revive the boy, but he was taken to Newcastle General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. His parents were told that their son would have died in minutes because of the airtight seal.

A spokesman for Northumbria police said yesterday that there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding the death last Saturday afternoon. "A post mortem found he died from asphyxiation. He was not in there for any great length of time."

Tony Hutchinson, 29, described his son as "a lovely little lad... I don't feel like I have lost just a son, I feel I have lost my best mate too. He was such an intelligent little boy. He could hold his own in any conversation