This Morning viewers moved to tears by 'inspirational' boy, three, who lost both legs due to abuse by parents

Tom Powell7 June 2018

This Morning viewers were moved to tears today after an “inspirational” three-year-old boy who lost both his legs due to abuse appeared on the sofa.

Tony Smith smiled alongside his adoptive parents as they discussed his upbringing in an emotional interview on the ITV show.

Aged just 41 days, he was rushed to hospital with multiple injuries after being swung by his ankles by his biological parents.

He was discharged from hospital at four months and placed into the care of Mark and Paula Hudgell, from Kings Hill in Kent.

But he still received regular visits from his birth parents, Tony Smith, 47, and Jody Simpson, 24, who claimed his injuries were accidental.

Tony Smith had to have both his legs amputated after being swung around by his ankles when just days old
Rex Features

Mrs Hudgell told This Morning presenters Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield: “I was given very little background other than his limbs were broken, which I thought... ‘bones mend’.

“Seeing him initially with two plaster casts on his legs, I thought they would just mend. His big brown eyes, he was tiny, so tiny.”

But she said she “broke down in tears” after learning the true nature of his injuries, which led to both of his legs being amputated.

It was revealed his legs had been broken in eight places, and that his birth parents had left him in agony for ten days before seeking medical treatment. He was apparently “seconds away” from dying due to sepsis when he was admitted to hospital.

Mrs Hugdell, who officially adopted Tony with her husband in March 2016, told the show: "It was absolutely heartbreaking, I don't think we've cried so many tears."

The CPS dropped a case against his birth parents due to a lack of evidence, but they were eventually jailed for ten years each this February after Mr and Mrs Hudgell petitioned their MP and police crime commissioner.

Viewers were left in floods of tears by the interview, with many praising the “truly inspirational” boy and his “wonderful” new parents.

Lucie Cairey tweeted: “What an amazing couple on This Morning. We need more people in this world like them! Truly inspirational!”

Jennifer Bennett added: “What an absolutely amazing little boy and family. There are honestly some incredible people in the world & thank god they outweigh the bad.”

Another Twitter user said: “He really is a star and so are his adoptive parents. Made me teary. Such a little cutie.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in