Girl, eight, loses six fingers in freak accident while making a den with fly-tipped rubbish

A little girl who lost six fingers in a freak accident while playing in a field with fly-tipped waste will one day need a prosthetic hand, her mother said.

Kerry Ratcliffe’s daughter Bella, then aged eight, suffered the life-changing injuries in April while playing on land behind the family home in Salford, Greater Manchester.

The youngster was ‘making a den’ when she stepped on a garden table which she had been dumped in the area.

Bella lost her fingers when she tried to grab onto a spiked security fence to break her fall.

Ms Ratcliffe, 34, said: ‘It’s heartbreaking. We heard screaming and a neighbour ran over and then my son pushed me back inside and said “she has got no fingers”, then I collapsed.

Bella Ratcliffe, eight, was standing on a fly-tipped table near her Salford home, when it collapsed

Beela attempted to grab hold of the security fence to break her fall but its sharp tips cut through her fingers (Pictured: The collapsed table and security fence)

‘She was in Wythenshawe Hospital. She was in surgery for 12 hours to reattach. It did not go to plan.’

Despite Bella, now nine, ‘adapting really well’, and returning to school in what Ms Ratcliffe says is a ‘massive step’, the mother-of-five says she is ‘still at a loss as to what’s happened’.

Since the accident, Ms Ratcliffe has moved her family to Winton, also in Salford, to be nearer to the hospital. One day, Bella will have a prosthetic hand, she added.

However, the full-time mother is now calling on the authorities to make sure the land – which neighbours claim is ‘hot spot for fly-tipping’ – is secured.

Ms Ratcliffe said: ‘There’s a private entrance with iron gates. They told us that they had cut off the locks. Then it became a hotspot for fly-tipping.

‘The gates are always open. The neighbours said they have complained about them for years.’

Local authorities in England dealt with over one million fly-tipping incidents last year, a decrease of 4% from the 1.14 million reported in the previous year, government figures reveal.

The percentage of fly-tips involving household waste also fell from 65 per cent to 61 per cent. Total incidents involving household waste were 671,000 in 2021/22, a decrease of 9 per cent from 740,000 incidents in 2020/21.

Bella, now nine, has ‘adapted really well’ and returned to school in what her mother says is a ‘massive step’

Bella lost six fingers and will require a prosthetic hand when she gets older

Following the incident, Salford City Council confirmed the land is owned by ForHousing, a housing association.

Nigel Sedman, ForHousing’s executive director of homes, said the organisation was ‘extremely sorry’ to hear about Bella’s accident.

Mr Sedman said: ‘The security fence at the rear of the homes at Kestrel Avenue was put in place several years ago after local neighbours raised concerns about anti-social behaviour and fly-tipping in the area.

‘In April, a neighbour reported that this incident had taken place, and we immediately visited the site to make it safe. We will continue to offer support and work with the local community.’