Tiny toddler's precious final moments with family before he was crushed to death by fireplace

Two-year-old Carter Walsh spent the day with his family where he was pictured gazing at a horse, just minutes before tragedy struck when the youngster was back home

Toddler Carter Walsh spent the day with his loved ones just before his life was tragically cut short in a harrowing accident.

The little boy died on Wednesday when a fireplace fell on him in his family home. Just 10 minutes earlier, he was captured enjoying his day with relatives, heartbreakingly pictured smiling at a horse that belonged to a family friend.

Speaking for the first time since his death, his heartbroken mum Samantha Walsh, 38, said of her boy: "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, on September 18. She said he had the "best day ever" as he got to visit her mum's horses - with photos showing him gazing up at one of them.

The two-year-old was then driven back to his home in Wigan, Greater Manchester, where cousin Saskia played with him for around 20 minutes while Samantha was still out. It was here when tragedy struck.

The marble fireplace in the room collapsed on the youngster, leaving him with a catastrophic head injury. 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, who was then rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

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' and there were no signs that 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. He's had loads of checks at the hospital. They've said he had been healthy [prior to the accident]. Everything was fine."

Samantha said that when Carter was born, he had briefly been looked after by foster carers before she took full charge of him. And she was struggling to come to terms with her life now the little lad had passed away. 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 spokesman 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 spokesman 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."