A YOUNG mother endured several sleepless nights and lost a week's pay during an agonising wait for an HIV blood test result after inadvertently stabbing herself with a used hypodermic syringe.

Sabrina Southall was relieved to be given the all-clear but refuses to let her four-year-old daughter Megan play outside for fear that more syringes will be discarded outside their Stourport home by drug addicts.

She is now calling for the area to be cleared of rubbish and for neighbourhood wardens to show a presence.

The 24-year-old mum was cleaning the communal rear courtyard to the flats where she lives in Old Ford Walk, on the Walshes estate, when she scooped up a handful of rubbish not realising the syringe was there.

"It stuck in my hand and I had to pull it out. I ran inside crying," said Miss Southall.

After thoroughly cleaning the wound following hospital advice, her GP carried out a blood test for Hepatitis B the same day.

She was suspended from her job in a pub kitchen for a week until the results came through and Miss Southall was so traumatised that her doctor increased the dosage of anti-depressants which she was already taking.

It was the third syringe she had found in recent months outside her home - one of which was discovered by Megan as she played in the courtyard.

"I won't let her play outside unless I can be with her, so I take her to my dad's a lot instead. But I'm worried with the school holidays approaching because she is going to want to go outside more," said Miss Southall.

She said it had been several months since she had seen any neighbourhood wardens patrolling and called for the communal courtyard to be regularly cleaned.

The courtyard does have a lockable gate but because it leads into a car park the flats tenants often leave it unlocked.

Wyre Forest Community Housing spokeswoman Fiona Law said: "The neighbourhood warden service remains active in Miss Southall's area. They will pay special attention to her neighbourhood as a deterrent to any future drug activity."

She added that tenants had been reminded of the importance of keeping the gate locked and urged anyone finding a discarded syringe to contact their local area housing office where arrangements would be made for safe and correct disposal by specialist teams.