Bandaged from head to toe, the baby badly burnt by a sofa

For while six-month-old Charlie can now peer out contentedly from his all-encompassing bandages, his mother won't be looking back on the last few weeks with anything other than tears.

Painful: Little Charlie Mather suffered horrific burns which his mother claims are because of an allergic reaction to a sofa

Her son's skin needs all the protection it can get after he suffered burns, rashes, welts and blistering in a suspected allergic reaction to anti mould agents on a new leather sofa.

That was four months ago, and Charlie still needs eight different creams to apply to his body each day.

Charlie was taken to hospital on February 12 after his skin began to react within an hour of being laid fully clothed on the cream leather settee. He spent a week on a drip in an isolation unit and even now his skin remains mottled with the raw sores.

Upset: Danielle Mather with Charlie. The sofa is to undergo independent testing

Miss Mather, 21, from Leeds, said: 'Without being able to use his hands he can't play or learn how to pick things up. It is heartbreaking to watch him struggle.'

She is now planning to sue Homebase, where she bought the sofa. It is one of more than 1,000 similar cases across the country, involving many major retail brands thought to have imported problem sofas from a now defunct manufacturer in China.

But Homebase said the sofa in this case was made in Britain and has no connection with the Chinese furniture factory.

The retailer has agreed to return the settee to Miss Mather so she can arrange for her own independent tests.

Bandaged: Charlie Mather has suffered a suspected allergic reaction to a sofa