Father beats 'crazed' rat to death with a baseball bat after it savaged his five-year-old old while he slept

Gholam Salehi said: 'It was going for his throat, trying to get into his mouth'

Mr Salehi blames dumped rubbish for the rat's presence (Flickr/Jean-Jacques Boujot)

A "foot-long" rat has reportedly savaged a five-year-old boy, leaving him with injuries to his face, hands and legs that required hospital treatment.

Amir Salehi was sleeping at his home in Holloway, north London when the rodent crawled under the covers and became tangled in the bed sheet, his father Gholam told The Sun.

The animal then appears to have panicked and started attacking Amir, clawing at his chest and repeatedly biting him on the throat and face.

Thankfully Gholam, 37, heard his son screaming and raced into the room, using a baseball bat to fight the animal off.

Speaking of the incident, Mr Salehi told The Sun: “It was going for his throat, trying to get into his mouth... There was so much blood. The rat was crazed.

“When I was hitting it with the bat it was like metal, so hard. It wasn’t scared of me. It fought back and was very tough,” he added.

Once he’d managed to kill the rat, Mr Salehi turned his attention to his son who’d been left with serious cuts to his face, hands and legs.

The injuries was so bad that Amir needed medical attention and was taken to hospital in an ambulance.

Mr Salehi says he no longer feels safe in his own home following the rat attack, which he blames on rubbish left at a nearby community centre following a party.

Last week it was revealed that Jeremy Hunt has ordered a full investigation after a grandmother was bitten more than 50 times by a rat while being cared for in government-funded sponsored housing.

Pamela Hudson, 75, suffered injuries to her face, arms and body after the rat "gnawed" her in Glen Lodge in the city of York, her daughter Jan Derry claimed.

Ms Derry said her mother, who died a few weeks after the incident, had been "severely" bitten after a rat became trapped in her bed.