A mother was shocked and horrified when her six-year-old boy showed her a needle he had found in the road while walking home from school.

Young Jack Roby has now been tested for hepatitis B after playing with the needle, which was left at the junction of Olivers Road and Olivers Close, Clacton.

His mother Vivienne, 40, of Wellesley Road, Clacton, said: "We were walking home from school when he ran ahead a little bit and I didn't see him pick the needle up.

"We got home and he said 'look what I have found'. I was shocked and then about ten minutes later his finger was bleeding."

Jack thought he had found a pen but it was a needle with a red tip. He was taken to hospital for blood tests and the results will be known in the next few days.

Ron Gathercole, manager of Clacton's Open Road, which is just yards away from where the needle was found, said the needle may have been one of theirs, but equally it could have come from somewhere else.

He said the centre supplied clean needles to users but could not allow anyone to take drugs on their premises as they would then be breaking the law.

He added: "We are very hot on asking people to bring them back, we don't get 100 per cent returns but we do get a very good rate.

"We are always reminding people about bringing back returns and just asking them to be responsible. It is an unfortunate incident and it is very worrying.

"We are going to step up our efforts again, if that's possible. We will be letting the people know there has been an incident. People need to be responsible in their use."

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