Firefighters went to the rescue of a toddler who was accidentally locked in his home.

The boy's mother had gone to put some rubbish out thinking the front door was latched but it slammed shut behind her.

Crews from Dovercourt were called to help out at the house in Church Street, Harwich, at just after noon yesterday.

Leading firefighter Len Stevens said a ladder was put up to the kitchen window and a firefighter climbed in and unlocked the front door.

Mr Stevens said the two-year-old was "a little bit distressed" but his mother had kept him talking through the letterbox.

He added she was "relieved" to find her son was safe and uninjured.

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