Northamptonshire: Rusty Knife falls from Peppa Pig’s Christmas present

A family was horrified after a rusty knife fell out of the box containing a brand new Pepper Pig gift.

Martin Sexton, 36, and fiancé Kelly Francis, 31, had been enjoying Christmas with daughter Maggie, 2, and son Archie, 3, at their home in Brackley, Northamptonshire.

But gift-wrapping took a shocking turn when the toddler turned to a yellow Pepper Pig-themed campervan toy.

The family claims a rusty retractable knife fell out of the box.

Papa Martin says he just managed to grab the sharp object before Maggie put it in her mouth.

“It could have been horrific,” he fumed.

“As both of our children are autistic, we need to be extra vigilant when opening boxes containing plastic ties. Parents with more advanced children might have just let them get on with opening their own presents.

“When something fell out of a cavity in the cardboard packaging, I initially thought it was just a piece of plastic.

“When Maggie reached for it, I saw it was a blue knife. The blade was rusty and the retractable blade didn’t have a safety catch so it just slipped in and out.

“I managed to snag it just before Maggie. It was just as good as I did as there’s a good chance Maggie would have put it in her mouth.’

Kelly shared photos of the knife on Facebook and said the incident made her “absolutely angry.”

She wrote online, “So happy and grateful that Martin opened it up with her and found it first!”

After checking their receipts again, the couple confirmed they ordered the gift from Studio, an online retailer owned by Studio Retail Group.

The complaint related to the incident has been forwarded to the company’s investigation team.

The wooden Peppa Pig camper was made in China and Martin suspects that the blue Martor knife was accidentally lost during packaging.

Although devastated, both parents were determined that the incident would not spoil their young children’s Christmas. They continued to open their children’s gifts – albeit very carefully.

Martin added: “We ran through the various horrifying what-if-we-hadn’t-seen-it-when-we-played scenarios.

“What if our other child picked it up? What if the dirty work blade hurt someone, especially with so many emergency services currently on strike? But the overriding feeling is a sense of relief that no one was hurt.”

Digital retailer Studio was contacted by Metro.co.uk for comment.

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