Mother claims her son, 5, was strangled by a fly curtain she bought from Amazon

Amazon has removed a fly screen from its website after a distraught mother claimed it strangled her five-year-old son.

Justine Church, 42, of Strood, Kent, ordered the item to keep the flies out of her back door, but her son Myles walked through it and got so badly entangled that she believes the boy now has a whiplash and injuries that could leave scars .

The mother of five said Myles was rescued by his twin brother Darwin, adding: ‘I could have buried [Myles]if it weren’t for his quick thinking.

Retail giant Amazon has now removed the item while it investigates the incident, a spokesman for the US company said.

She warned that other customers have also reported being suffocated by the cord door curtain.

Justine Church, 42, from Strood, Kent, revealed a fly screen had strangled her five-year-old son

In May of this year, one person described it as a “death trap” and wrote, “Your product was great until my husband walked out only to get the strands caught around his neck and strangle him.” Really not good and will elaborate on this further.’

Another posted: “Keep the flies out. However, I had to remove it because it got stuck around my 4 year old daughter’s neck and caused friction burn, bad enough that it scabbed.

“I’ve been caught up in these things before and never had anything like it. Wouldn’t recommend if you have kids!’

Ms Church said her son was ‘traumatised’ after the incident and claimed there were no warnings on the package despite the buyers’ concerns.

In response to Ms. Church’s report, an Amazon spokesperson stated, “This product has been removed while we investigate.”

The mother said she was distraught when she came home from work and found out what had happened.

She said her husband hadn’t heard much because he was vacuuming upstairs.

The mother of five said Myles was rescued by his twin brother Darwin, adding: ‘I could have buried [Myles]if it weren’t for his quick thinking

Myles walked through the fly curtain and got so entangled she thinks the boy now has a whiplash and wounds that could scar

Myles was left with red cuts around his neck after the fly curtain wrapped around him (pictured the day after the incident)

Ms Church said her son was ‘traumatized’ after the incident and claimed there were no warnings on the package despite buyers’ concerns

“His twin brother Darwin managed to untangle him, but now that it looks like he has a whip around his neck, it’s probably going to scar,” she said.

“He was pretty traumatized at the time and it really hurt because it’s like a burn.

“When you search online, you know what you want, you know what size you want, you put it in your shopping cart and you order it.

“It arrived and there was no warning on the package, but I’ve since googled it and seen it happen before.

“When I looked at the reviews on Amazon, it’s happened to so many people.”

She added: “It’s that time of year when you have to be more aware of things like paddling pools, blind cords, the windows that are open – I have five kids so I’m fully aware of safety issues around children and my house is baby-proof.

Myles also had wounds on the back of his neck (pictured the day he was strangled by the net)

Myles was pictured with his twin brother Darwin and their older sister at their home in Kent

‘We can’t keep an eye on them all the time, so we’ve got window locks, a padlocked gate and the blind cords made up.

‘But when you buy a roller blind, it says suffocation hazard all over the box – no warning at all.

“If you scroll all the way down, their ad has a legal disclaimer that children are not allowed through unsupervised, but that’s not practical.

‘The disclaimer on the product is that this is not a toy and children should not be allowed to walk through it unsupervised.

‘How is that even practical that you have to watch as a child when you walk through it? Despite this, adults have also been strangled by it.

Stock image of a fly screen, often used by homeowners to keep insects out. This is not the product purchased from Amazon

“I think the product is unsafe and not fit for purpose. If they had a leaflet in the package with strangulation hazards in bold, I would never have put this in my house.’

After the incident, she immediately took down the curtain and threw it away.

‘I left a review, but I don’t want a refund, I just want people to be more aware, because you don’t link a curtain like that to strangulation.

‘I’m thrilled with the flies flying around the house now – I’m just shocked at the number of reviews online saying how bad they are.

“If he hadn’t been disentangled by his brother, I could have buried him, it would have been a whole different story.”