Box of 100 hypodermic needles found near Northampton primary school

A parent found the yellow sharps box while Vernon Terrace Primary School pupils were queuing at an ice cream van in nearby Vernon Walk.

Darren Knagg, who had picked up his son from school, spotted the foot-long yellow container near a public bin.

He said: “It was lying there in the open, presumably because the bin was full.

“I thought it was a lunchbox at first so a child could easily have picked out of curiosity and God knows what could have happened.”

Mr Knagg, the landlord of the Fiddlers pub in Wellingborough Road, flagged down a passing police car and handed the box to an officer to dispose of.

It is understood the school will send out a warning note to parents in its next newsletter asking them to be alert for similar boxes and to tell their child of the dangers of touching them.