A boy who lost his legs after being abused as a baby was left for five hours at an airport without his wheelchair – and when it did turn up it was damaged.

Tony Hudgell's biological mother Jody Simpson and her boyfriend Anthony Smith were jailed for 10 years after horrifically abusing him when he was six weeks old.

Tony, now eight, was forced to have his legs amputated at the knee but has since found happiness with adopted parents Paula and Mark Hudgell in Kings Hill.

But this morning he was stranded for five hours at Gatwick Airport when his special wheelchair was left on a Jet2holidays plane.

His furious mum tweeted: "Appalled with @jet2tweets. Have been stranded for 3 hrs now with no wheelchair as its still on the plane. 3am no help. Double amputee no legs as his wheelchair is his legs. Trying to get help or assistance and nothing."

A Jet2holidays member of staff replied: "I am incredibly sorry to hear of your experience, we are currently trying to contact our team at LGW and we will look into fixing this for you."

At 6.30am his mum Paula added: "Sorted now but 5 hours too late as far as a wheelchair user needs ignored.

"Assistance was booked in advance. Should have been sorted and when it did come out it was put on the conveyor belt and got twisted and bent. Full complaint on its way. Wheelchair cost us £6,500. So cross."

A spokesman for Jet2Holidays said: "We would like to sincerely apologise to Tony and his family for the delay on receiving his wheelchair and for any inconvenience caused as a result.

"As an award-winning airline that prides itself on industry-leading customer service, we take matters such as this extremely seriously and are working with our ground handling agent to investigate how this happened.

“We can confirm that the delay was due to Gatwick Airport being temporarily closed due to snow which meant that the baggage handler experienced severe delays offloading luggage. Unfortunately, this included the wheelchair.

“We recognise that this should not be the experience that our customers receive when travelling with us and can confirm that we have been in touch with Mrs Hudgell to offer both our sincere apologies and to do everything we can to rectify this situation.”

Tony was left with numerous life-threatening and life-changing limb fractures, multiple organ failure and sepsis after violence at the hands of his parents.

Simpson and Smith – who lived in Square Hill Road, Maidstone, at the time of the offence – were due to be automatically released on licence halfway through their sentences this summer.

But Justice Secretary Dominic Raab stepped in at the last minute to block their release using new powers concerning dangerous offenders.

However, Simpson has now taken the case to the High Court where lawyers will argue the eleventh-hour move by Mr Raab was unlawful. It means she and Smith could be freed in January within 48 hours if she wins the challenge.

Little Tony was subjected to a string of "spiteful, vigorous assaults" in the 41 days after he was born.

He was then left to suffer with multiple injuries for 10 days after cruel Simpson and Smith refused to get help.

When he was eventually taken to hospital, medics found he had suffered broken fingers and toes, as well as torn ligaments.

He has lived with Paula and Mark since he was four months old and has since raised more than £1.7million for the Evelina hospital where his life was saved.