Mother's horror after baby given bottle of 'bleach' in Eltham McDonald's (From This Is Local London)

Mottingham mother's horror after baby given bottle of 'bleach' in Eltham High Street McDonald's

11:12am Friday 14th September 2012 in News By Sarah Trotter

A YOUNG Mottingham mother has spoken of her horror after a passer-by slipped a bottle of suspected bleach to her baby in McDonald's yesterday.

Samantha Cherry was at the Eltham fast-food chain with her 11-month-old son Jonjo when he started choking and was sick after drinking the alleged poison.

The 18-year-old briefly left Jonjo with her mother Mandy Cherry – who was beside the child feeding him chips – when someone swiftly dropped a bottle into the baby’s buggy.

The grandmother rescued the baby boy by helping him being sick after he is believed to have drunk some of the orange "frothy" liquid.

Ms Cherry, who lives in Sidcup Road, told News Shopper: "I was just shocked at first then I was so angry that anyone would ever do that.

"I am still feeling upset that someone could do that to an innocent child.

"As mum was feeding him chips, she must have gazed out the window for a second and a woman slipped a bottle into his buggy. Obviously being a baby he picked it up.

"Mum could see he was struggling, she thought he was choking on a chip. She helped him be sick and that is when she saw the bottle.

"She was so fast – mum was sitting right next to him. CCTV footage shows it happened in 3/10 of a second."

The baby’s grandmother shouted to the restaurant to see if anyone had seen the incident and a customer said they saw a woman drop the bottle into the buggy.

Former pupil of Eltham Green School Samantha Cherry says she sniffed the liquid in the bottle which smelt strongly of bleach.

The Sainsbury’s cashier said: "My mum told me to taste it – I put it up to my mouth and you could smell the bleach. It looked like it was diluted with orange juice – it was orange and frothy."

Baby Jonjo was rushed to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich at around 12.40pm and was discharged later the same night.

Speaking this morning, Ms Cherry said: "He seems a lot better but he’s still a bit poorly."

There are unconfirmed reports that a similar incident happened in a Mothercare store in the area the day before.

Police and paramedics attended the scene. There have been no arrests and officers from Greenwich are investigating.

The suspect is described as a grey-haired, heavily built white female in her 50s. She was wearing black trousers, black trainers, a long multi-coloured top and a black jacket with white chevron type markings. She was carrying a maroon bag.

Anyone with information is asked to call the incident room on 020 82849543 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.