Heartbreaking final photo shows toddler minutes before he died

Little Carter Walsh had 'the best day ever' with his family before tragedy struck

This is the heartbreaking final photograph of a toddler taken just minutes before he died when a fireplace fell on him in his family home. Carter Walsh, two, can be seen in the picture meeting a horse belonging to a family friend during a day out with his relatives.

Less than half an hour later, a marble fireplace collapsed on him as he danced with his cousin in the living room of his family home in Wigan, Greater Manchester. He suffered a head injury in the tragic accident and was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Speaking for the first time for the first time on Friday, his heartbroken mum Samantha Walsh, 38, said of her boy: "He was my best friend. He was well-loved, not just by his family but by anybody that met him. He broke the hearts of everybody he met... He was the apple of our eyes.”

Carter's aunt Natalie Prescott, 35, said he had gone out for lunch at a carvery restaurant with her mum, sister and daughter, Saskia Prescott, 16, on Wednesday. He had the "best day ever" when he got to visit her mum's horses - with photos showing him gazing up at one of them.

Carter was then driven back to his home in Wigan, where Saskia had played with him for around 20 minutes while Samantha was out. But disaster struck as they were dancing in the living room when the marble fireplace collapsed - after its bottom section “snapped” - and fell on him.

Natalie said: “The fireplace, it just collapsed in the middle. It was giving and it’s just collapsed and it’s just come forward. It was a marble fireplace.”

Saskia and the property's landlord, who was at the address fixing a boiler at the time, phoned an ambulance and tried to resuscitate Carter straight away. Mum-of-four Samantha learned of the incident moments later when Saskia rang her to say that there had been an accident.

Samantha said: “She was very calm at first and she just said ‘You need to come home, Carter has banged his head'. I don’t know if she was doing that to keep me calm.

“I was waiting for a taxi, and I was on my way home, and then I just kept ringing her. And every time I rang her, I could tell it was serious.

“She started to panic because she knew I was on my way back. I rang my mum. She came and picked me up. And when I got there, they were still working on him – the ambulance and the police. They let me see him and then they said, ‘right, we need to get him to hospital'."

Samantha said her mum, who is a nurse, had warned her to prepare for the worst after they found out that Carter would not be airlifted to hospital.

She added: "They said, 'We’re going to Wigan [hospital]'. I knew then, there was nothing… because they cancelled the air ambulance. My mum is a nurse at the hospital. So she knew as well. So she just said, ‘prepare yourself when you get to the hospital'.”

Devastated Samantha said when she saw Carter on the ward, he had looked ‘peaceful’ and there were no signs that he had suffered a life-threatening injury.

She said: “It was just one head injury. But he just looked so peaceful… There was no bruising or anything to his face. The cut was covered over. There were no visible injuries.

“He’s had loads of checks at the hospital. They’ve said he had been healthy (prior to the accident). Everything was fine.”

Samantha said that when Carter was born he had briefly been looked after by foster carers before she took charge of him. She said she was struggling to come to terms with her life now the little lad had passed away.

Samantha said: “I had to fight for him back out of foster care. I did that, I got him back, and I’ve spent every day with him since.

“He’s been with me now nearly two years, obviously. He was my best mate.

“I’ve been back to the house. I couldn’t stay there. I went to stay with my sisters. I went back yesterday to clean up, obviously, because there was blood."

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said on Thursday that the force was supporting Samantha and her family.

A spokesperson said: “At around 2.15pm on Wednesda, September 18, officers were called to reports regarding a concern for welfare of a child on Fisher Close, Wigan. Sadly, despite the best efforts of paramedics, a two-year-old boy later died at hospital. Enquiries are ongoing and officers are supporting the family at this time.”

A spokesman for North West Ambulance Service added: "We attended an incident at a private address following a 999 call at 14.06. An ambulance, air ambulance, response vehicle, advanced paramedic attended. A patient was taken to hospital by road."