A MOTHER has spoken of her horror after her three-year-old son tumbled from a balcony at her wedding.

Gemma Coulton said she has flashbacks to the “thud” when son Freddie fell ten feet through railings at Lewes Town Hall only moments before she was due to say her wedding vows.

Amazingly Freddie was not seriously hurt – but Mrs Coulton, 33, is calling on authorities to make sure it does not happen again.

She said: “I don’t want anyone else to have to go through that – let alone on your wedding day. Something needs to be done before it leads to a fatal accident."

Freddie was lining up with adults preparing to walk into the room where Gemma and her fiancé, Christopher, were due to say their vows on August 20 when the accident happened.

“He just disappeared off the back of the balcony," she said.

"Things kind of went quiet and we heard the thud of him hitting the floor.

“I did not want to look but then did and I saw him face down on the stairs.

“I was trying to run down the stairs to get to him and people were trying to stop me.

“My dad got to him first and rolled him over. He started screaming but he just could not breathe properly.

“Just seeing him disappear is something that I am going to have nightmares about for the rest of my life.”

Freddie was taken to hospital and found to be bruised and winded but not seriously hurt.

She asked Lewes Town Council change the railings so it could not happen again, but said she was told by a council clerk “the likelihood of a child of Freddie’s size simply falling through without lodging part-way is extremely remote.”

In an email shown to The Argus, the clerk added the staircase “cannot be modified to meet modern regulations, as it is a nationally significant example of Jacobean workmanship.”

He added wedding officials planned to avoid using the landing where possible and would advise guests about supervising children.

On paramedics' advise, the couple said their vows before Freddie was taken to hospital.

Mrs Coulton, from Horsham, said: “In our wedding photos we are all in complete shock."

A spokesman for East Sussex County Council, responsible for safety at the hall during weddings, said it had been in touch with the family and was pleased Freddie was not seriously injured.

She added: "It would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”