Co Down mother speaks of horror as she describes finding needle buried in eight-year-old son's trick-or-treat sweetie
A Co Down woman says she was left “absolutely shocked and horrified” after finding a needle in one of the sweets which her child had collected while trick-or-treating on Halloween.
The PSNI has advised parents to check any such sweets after the mother reported the discovery inside a miniature Snickers bar.
She said she had found a small hole in the wrapper, suggesting that it was pushed into the bar after it was made.
There has been a burst of such reports in Donegal and in Germany in the past 48 hours involving different varieties of sweets.
Mother-of-two Samantha “Sammie” Bingham, aged 34, told the News Letter her eight-year-old son Kaiden Bingham had been going around the streets around their home in Spelga Drive in Rathfriland on Saturday night.
He had been accompanied by a friend the same age while she tracked the pair on her phone.
Then on Monday night Kaiden requested some sweets from his Halloween haul, so she got them out to examine them.
"We always check their sweets – they’re not allowed to touch their sweets until we check,” she said.
She was looking for either out-of-date sweets or ones that may have been tampered with.
Mrs Bingham said she used a magnet to sweep the sweets, adding that she does this every year (“everybody I know checks their sweets with a magnet”, she said).
“The magnet had stuck to the Snickers, and I was like ‘oh’, so we obviously opened it and pulled the chocolate bar apart.
"And there it was, stuck in the side of it.”
If Kaiden had eaten it, “he’d have been in hospital by now – it’s so scary”.
They ended up throwing out the whole haul of sweets, leaving Kaiden “heartbroken”.
Asked if she had any suspicions who may have done it, she said no.
As to the practice of checking sweets with a magnet, “people might say it’s crazy, but look what’s happened”.
"I am shocked, absolutely shocked and horrified that someone would actually think to themselves ‘let’s put a needle in this’.
"Why would that even cross someone’s mind?
"It’s really baffling – and especially to a child, an innocent child that’s done nothing and has no clue what’s going on in the world.”
She was not aware of anyone else who had made a similar find.
The PSNI said: “Police are appealing for parents, guardians and carers to carefully inspect Halloween treats collected by children after receiving a report of a chocolate bar contaminated with a needle in the Rathfriland area.
"Officers received a report on Tuesday, November 3, of a wrapped chocolate bar that was found to contain a sewing needle.
"While no injuries have been reported at this time police would urge the public to be cautious and inspect all items before consumption.
"Inspect all wrapped and unwrapped sweets collected during ‘trick-or-treating’ and look for any unusual tears, pinholes or broken seals.
"Anyone finding anything suspicious or signs of package tampering should avoid handling the item further and contact police immediately.”
Mars Wrigley UKI, the company behind Snickers in the UK, said: "At Mars, the safety and quality of our products is our top priority.
"We have rigorous quality and food safety processes in place so consumers can enjoy our products with confidence.
"If anyone believes a product's packaging has been opened or tampered with, they should not consume it.
"We always encourage consumers to check products before consumption and to contact us if they have any concerns."
UUP councillor Glenn Barr, who lives in the Rathfriland area, circulated news of the needle find.
By around noon today, it had over 60,000 views.
He has three children himself and “can only imagine” what their reaction would be to such a discovery.
He told the News Letter: “Why would you even think of doing that there in the first place?”
RTE reported that two Donegal women – Savannah McDaid from Stranorlar and Philippa Falls from neighbouring Ballybofey – had found pins in multiple sweets including chocolate bars and chewy bars (it did not name any brands).
It also said that Ms McDaid had found the pins after checking with a magnet.
The Telegraph, The Sun and other media outlets have reported on similar finds in several locations in Germany involving different types of sweets.