Heartbreaking photograph of toddler taken just before he was killed by falling fireplace

The heartbreaking final photograph of a little boy, taken just minutes before he was killed by a falling fireplace has been released by his family. Carter Walsh had spent the day with his family, visiting a friend who owned a horse, before the tragic accident. 

The toddler, who was just two years old when he died at his family home in Wigan, Greater Manchester. Less than half an hour after the adorable picture was captured, a marble fireplace collapsed on him as he danced with his cousin in the living room.

He suffered a head injury and was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Speaking on Friday (September 20) for the first time since his death, his heartbroken mother, Samantha Walsh, 38, said: "He was my best friend. He was well-loved, not just by his family but by anybody that met him. He broke the hearts of everybody he met... He was the apple of our eyes.”

Carter's aunt Natalie Prescott, 35, said he had gone out for lunch at a carvery restaurant with her mum, sister and daughter, Saskia Prescott, 16. She described how Carter had the "best day ever" when he got to visit her mum's horses - with photos showing him gazing up at one of them.

Carter was then driven back home, where Saskia had played with him for around 20 minutes while Samantha was out. However, disaster struck as they were dancing in the living room when the marble fireplace collapsed and fell on him.

Natalie said: “The fireplace, it just collapsed in the middle. It was giving and it’s just collapsed and it’s just come forward. It was a marble fireplace.”

Saskia and the property's landlord, who was at the address fixing a boiler at the time, phoned an ambulance and tried to resuscitate Carter straight away. Mum of four Samantha learned of the incident moments later when Saskia rang her to say that there had been an accident.

Samantha said: “She was very calm at first and she just said ‘You need to come home, Carter has banged his head’. I don’t know if she was doing that to keep me calm.

“I was waiting for a taxi, and I was on my way home, and then I just kept ringing her. And every time I rang her, I could tell it was serious. She started to panic because she knew I was on my way back.

“I rang my mum. She came and picked me up. And when I got there, they were still working on him – the ambulance and the police. They let me see him, and then they said, ‘Right, we need to get him to hospital'."

Samantha said her mum, who is a nurse, had warned her to prepare for the worst after they found out that Carter would not be airlifted to hospital. She added: "They said, 'We’re going to Wigan [hospital]'. I knew then, there was nothing… because they cancelled the air ambulance.

“My mum is a nurse at the hospital. So she knew as well. So she just said, ‘Prepare yourself when you get to the hospital’.”

Devastated Samantha said when she saw Carter on the ward, he had looked ‘peaceful’ with no signs he had suffered a life-threatening injury. She said: “It was just one head injury. 

"But he just looked so peaceful… There was no bruising or anything to his face. The cut was covered over. There were no visible injuries.”

Samantha said that when Carter was born, he had briefly been looked after by foster carers before she took full charge of him. She is now struggling to come to terms with her life now without her little boy.

Samantha said: “I had to fight for him back out of foster care. I did that, I got him back, and I’ve spent every day with him since. He’s been with me now nearly two years, obviously. He was my best mate. 

“I’ve been back to the house. I couldn’t stay there. I went to stay with my sisters. 

I went back yesterday to clean up, obviously, because there was blood."

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police said yesterday that they were supporting Samantha and her family. They said: “At around 2.15pm on Wednesday September 18, officers were called to reports regarding a concern for welfare of a child on Fisher Close, Wigan.

“Sadly, despite the best efforts of paramedics, a two-year-old boy later died at hospital. Enquiries are ongoing and officers are supporting the family at this time.”

A spokesperson for North West Ambulance Service added: "We attended an incident at a private address following a 999 call at 14.06. An ambulance, air ambulance, response vehicle, advanced paramedic attended. A patient was taken to hospital by road.”