Jaden Gumm's sudden disappearance triggered a police search involving 30 police officers and a helicopter for almost 4 hours.
The 3-year-old boy put his mother, Becky Gumm, 32, through hell after he hid himself in the cupboard after watching his favourite programme, Fireman Sam.
His mother made a distress call to the police which sparked a huge search, including neighbours and total strangers who turned out in large numbers to look for the little boy.
Daily Mail reports:
Jaden had been missing for more than three and a half hours – and it was completely dark outside – when Ms Gumm checked a cupboard in her kitchen for a second time. She burst into tears of joy and sheer relief when he appeared.
Mother-of-seven Ms Gumm had already looked in there once – but her little boy had snuggled under a pile of carrier bags and she hadn’t spotted him.
Mrs Gumm said: ‘I didn’t quite believe that he had been under the kitchen sink asleep for three hours
– he never sits still for that long.
‘I was shocked and very tearful – I still am a bit – but I’m getting there.’
Jaden went missing at about 3pm last Friday.
Mrs Gumm said she was upstairs with another child as the three-year-old played downstairs and watched Fireman Sam.
A Cambridge Police spokesman said: ‘We put a lot of resources into the search due to the potential risk to such a young child who was thought to have wandered out of his home’ (stock picture)
She described the heart-stopping moment she walked back into the living room and he was nowhere to be seen.
‘When I asked where he was, Charlie, my four-year-old, held my hand and took me to the front door – I thought he had gone out,’ said Becky. ‘It was just so horrible.’
Jaden lives with his family in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, in this neighbourhood
She added: ‘I looked everywhere around the house that I could think of and I double-checked everywhere.‘I phoned my mum to see if he had walked up to hers and she said “no”. I was going out of my head and thinking all sorts.
‘I thought: Is he in the house or has someone taken him? ‘Will we ever see him again, I thought, especially with the brook so close?’
Mrs Gumm desperately searched for Jaden for about an hour with her husband Andy, 48, her children, neighbours and friends before she alerted police.
Officers immediately launched a full-scale search as fears mounted for the boy’s safety.
‘We were hunting everywhere and there were lots of people helping – there were just so many that it was unbelievable. They were absolutely brilliant,’ said Mrs Gumm.
The mother was actually talking to police in her kitchen as the hours when she checked her cupboard under the sink and made the ‘fantastic’ find.
‘I still can hardly believe what we all went through. I didn’t want to take Jaden to nursery on Monday but I knew that if I didn’t, I never would.
‘The children were all brilliant. They were so relieved when we finally found him and they had their tears as well,’ she added.
‘They were all little superstars – they went out with everybody else to help look for him. I’m proud of them.
‘People I didn’t even know were out looking along with us – it was lovely that they all did that. I’m very thankful to them all.’
A Cambridgeshire Police spokesman said: ‘Our priority is always to protect and safeguard vulnerable people.
‘We put a lot of resources into the search due to the potential risk to such a young child who was thought to have wandered out of his home.
‘We were delighted to find him safe and well and reunite him with his concerned family.’
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