Boy, 7, in a hole as family try (and fail) to recreate toddler picture

Max Morgan, 7, stuck in a stone monument at Wightwick Manor, a Victorian estate near Wolverhampton in Britain. Photos / West MIdlands Fire Service

A boy aged 7 spent three hours stuck in a National Trust monument after his family tried to recreate a picture they took of him as a toddler.

Max Morgan had travelled to Wightwick Manor, a Victorian estate near Wolverhampton, with his family yesterday.

His mother Jana had taken a photograph of her son inside the stone pinnacle when he was 2 – and they tried to set up the same image again.

However, when Max climbed inside, through a hole on top of the stone pinnacle, he became stuck and his mother had to call for help.

George, Max's father, was among those who arrived.

The pinnacle was one of a number of pieces of decorative masonry that owner Sir Geoffrey Mander had salvaged in the early 1930s.

The stone structures, which came from the original Palace of Westminster, which was destroyed during a fire in 1834, have been in the garden at Wightwick Manor for 85 years.

Rescue workers who initially arrived to help had to contact a specialist team due to the "complexity of the entrapment".

After more than three hours Max was set free once an abrasive wheel, usually reserved to free car crash victims after road traffic accidents, was used to slice open the stone.

"Max was losing the feeling in his toes and is also claustrophobic, so he was panicking," his mother said.

Members of the West Midlands Fire Service cut Max free.

George, his father, admitted his son had "grown a bit" since the previous photograph was taken.

"The hole is about 3ft deep, Max was climbing on top of it and managed to get in, and he was crouched down inside and got his knees stuck," Morgan said.

"He was finally free at around 6.30pm. Max was worrying but my wife managed to calm him by singing to him."

Max recovers in an ambulance.

Max, of Lower Penn, south Staffordshire, was taken to A&E for routine checks where he was found to have some bruising on his leg, but was later discharged with no serious injuries.

Morgan said: "The monument is one which is climbed on a lot by kids. Max has actually being playing on it since he was around 2 years old.

"The monument is like two pillar tops placed on top of one another, the hole on the top one is smaller than the bottom.

"Staff from the trust tried to help pull him out but it was no good."