A couple have been jailed for child cruelty after a seven-year-old boy was seriously injured by a broken washing machine.

The couple, from Banbury, made the boy, who cannot be named, sit and hold shut the faulty door of the washing machine while it was on, despite warnings from social workers.

However, on February 11 this year, the boy slipped on some water and plunged his arm into the machine during a spin cycle. As a result, he had emergency surgery on two serious fractures and also needed a skin graft.

His 31-year-old mother and 25-year-old stepfather, who were in the next room when the accident happened, were yesterday jailed for four months each at Oxford Crown Court after judge Gary Flather accused them of showing wanton indifference to the child's welfare.

Both had pleaded guilty to wilful neglect.

Gavin Holme, prosecuting, said: "The boy gave a video interview in which he said he had held the door shut, but water had come out and his arm had gone into the door.

"When interviewed, his mother accepted she had been told in the past by social workers who visited that she should stop asking the boy to do this.

"The stepfather said the only way the machine could be operated was if the door was held shut and the porthole in place."

Mr Holme said two social workers had told the mother how dangerous the practice was, and told her not to do it.

Roderick Jones, in mitigation for the mother, said: "She completely and unreservedly accepts that she allowed a situation to continue in which her son was exposed to risk. She accepts responsibility for the accident.

"She has an enormous hill to climb as far as her parenting is concerned."

James Mason, for the stepfather, said: "It was a heavy degree of negligence. He was facing the pressures of five children and the lack of financial stability.

"My client is quite devastated by what happened."

Jailing the pair, Judge Flather QC said: "Children are gullible, children are vulnerable, and they need your attention and care."

He added: "Both of you criminally exposed the boy to a very obvious danger.

"He was grievously injured, though mercifully he has recovered."

The boy and his four siblings, including two children from the current marriage, have all been taken into care.