A TERRIFIED mum cannot sleep fearing rats are going to attack her baby and young son.

Erica Freeman found one of her son’s toys chewed apart by the rats that are infesting her two-bedroom housing association flat in West Moors and said one of the rodents jumped up at her partner when he corned it.

The 39-year-old gave birth to baby Tony at the start of October and with Kyron still only 19 months old she cannot sleep for fear of the rats getting to them at the second floor flat at Bramble Court in Park Way.

“I’m terrified about my baby,” she said.

“There was one in Kyron’s bedroom and it went for my partner.

“He cornered it and it jumped up and went for him so my partner killed it with a baseball bat.

“I’m petrified they are going to bite my children and my baby only weighs six pounds.”

At first Erica’s partner wondered if her painkillers were playing tricks on her as she could hear noises in the loft.

Pest controllers have now been out to the two-bedroom flat in an attempt to kill the infestation.

Erica is calling on Spectrum Housing Association and the council to move the family for their own safety and wants the bins outside to be cleared up as she feels the rubbish is attracting the rats.

“I’m having no sleep,” she added.

“The noise is horrible as it sounds like they are hissing at one another in the loft and you can hear things being knocked over.”

Concern about bin area

A Christchurch and East Dorset council spokesman said an officer visited on October 10 to start rodent baiting.

“He was concerned about the communal bin area and has raised that with the pollution team,” he said.

“They are going to visit and if there are any issues we will take it up with the landlords.”

Housing officials also await the visit from the environmental health officers before considering the family’s future .

A Spectrum Housing Group spokesperson said they sent a pest control company and they will be back.

“Spectrum is not responsible for allocating its homes. This needs to be done through the local council. We will continue working closely with Erica and pest control to get on top of the rat issue.”