A FIVE-year-old boy is having hospital treatment after accidentally pricking himself on a drug addict's needle he found discarded on a city street.

Now the parents of Jack Phipps have an anxious wait for him to be given the all-clear from infections like hepatitis B and the HIV virus.

The incident happened in Canterbury when the youngster was walking with his father, Alex.

Mr Phipps, a clinical pharmacologist, of Cathedral View, Canterbury, said: "I was absolutely horrified and just got him to hospital as soon as possible.

"My wife, Joanne and I are just so angry that some drug addict has put my son through this and his life potentially at risk."

* See the Kentish Gazette (Thursday, August 16) for the full story.