A MOTHER of three feared for her baby's life when a kitchen unit fell from the wall missing her by inches.

Karen Preston, of Roughaw Road, Skipton, was in the kitchen on Monday with 10-month-old Cherice when a metre high food cupboard fitted by council contractors came down on top of her.

Miss Preston managed to support one end of the cupboard on her shoulder and the other came to rest on the sink unit inches above Cherice who was playing in her baby walker.

She shouted for her eight-year-old son Daniel who ran into the kitchen to pull his sister from underneath, while eldest daughter Rebecca, 12, phoned for help.

Miss Preston said she had been frightened for her daughter. "If it had been a wide kitchen and the unit had not caught on the sink she would have been a gonner.

"I was really mad, I just wanted to make sure she was alright. She was screaming and covered in flour."

Miss Preston added that her son had said he had thought the bottle bank was being emptied because the crash was so loud.

The family moved into the council house in May and had been waiting for the kitchen to be fitted since then.

Eventually it was installed last Friday and the food had been put on the shelves on Monday, just hours before it fell down.

Miss Preston's friend, Andrew Cook, said he thought the one and a half inch fixings which had been used to secure the unit to the concrete wall were not strong enough.

Miss Preston and baby Cherice were taken to hospital. Cherice had escaped unharmed but Miss Preston suffered a badly bruised arm which she now has in a sling.

Craven District Council's head of housing and environmental health, John Sykes, described the incident as "catastrophic."

He said: "There is no getting away from the fact that it should not have happened.

"I am obviously glad that the injuries sustained by Karen Preston were not greater although I am not belittling them."

Mr Sykes said he had launched a thorough investigation into whether the incident was an accident or could have been foreseen.

"Initial investigations indicate that it was a failure of the old plaster work in the stud partition and we are reviewing our procedure as a matter of urgency as to how we fit cupboards in similar circumstances in the future.

"We have had no similar failures of this kind and the joiner who did the fitting was experienced and has worked for the council for some time."

The Health and Safety Executive has been informed, and Mr Sykes said he had written to Miss Preston apologising for the incident.

Investigations are still ongoing.