MUM Collette Duckett went head over heels for her new baby.

She hung on to seven-week-old Helen when she took a tumble on the stairs - and ended up with a badly broken leg, sealed in plaster.

Collette, 28, of Infirmary Street, Blackburn, said: "I was coming down the stairs with Helen in my arms and I missed the last step.

"I was lucky it didn't happen at the top. There was nothing to hold on to and all I could think about was her safety."

Collette, a steward at Blackburn Rovers' Ewood Park, shielded the youngster from the impact and then hung on to her as she crawled in agony to reach a mobile phone in her handbag.

She added: "I knew the first thing I had to do was call an ambulance.

Helen escaped with a minor bump to the head.

Collette, who has two other children, Steven, seven, and Sam, five, said: "I was just starting to return to normal after the birth. Now it will be four to six weeks before I can even put my weight on the leg."

The Rovers fanatic hopes to get her plaster cast signed by some of the players.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.