A CORONER yesterday criticised a magazine editor's failure to highlight the dangers of a toy that a toddler choked on.

Kieran Millard, from Gronant, in Flintshire, was playing at home with his twin brother Connah when part of the toy became stuck in his throat, an inquest heard yesterday.

Denbighshire County Council's principal trading standards officer Anthony Young said he asked the editor of the authority's in-house magazine County Voice to run an article on the toy's possible dangers.

But Mr Young was told the magazine would be running a piece closer to Christmas when parents would be thinking about buying toys.

North Wales central coroner John Hughes said the decision not to run the article failed to take account of the urgency of the situation at the time of the 13-month-old boy's death last May.

Mr Hughes said the Prestatyn Kwik Save store where the #3.99 toy was bought for Kieran by a friend of the family had sold out their stocks of the game My Tapping Pals.

He said, "If the Prestatyn store had sold out its whole supply of these goods then people needed to be warned of the dangers because if it happened to Kieran it could happen to any child."

Mr Young, who investigated Kieran's death, said he took issue with the decision not to publish the article, but to no avail.

"I would have liked the article to have been published earlier and there was an exchange of faxes where I showed my disappointment," the trading standards official said.

But the Chinese-made toy did conform to British safety standards, the inquest heard.

Though Kwik Save removed the toy from all of its stores, this was done more out of respect for the family's loss than any concerns about its legality or safety.

A spokesperson for Denbighshire council said one of the authority's officers from the public protection department gave interviews about toy safety at the time of Kieran's death.

"A decision was taken by the County Voice editorial team to issue safety advice about toys closer to Christmas time when people start their Christmas shopping and when most of the toys of this nature are bought.

"One of our officers in the public protection department did take part in television and radio interviews regarding toy safety on the day details of the tragedy was published in the newspapers."

My Tapping Pals consisted of a set of plastic figures that fitted into matching holes.

The shapes would pop-up when the children tapped a button with a hammer.

At the time of the tragedy Kieran was teething and enjoyed chewing on the shapes, the inquest heard.

It's thought the toddler tripped and fell before the shape became wedged in his throat.

The toy's packaging carried a warning it was unsuitable for children under 18-months-old, but neither of Kieran's parents, Amanda Barnett or John Millard, were aware of this.

The family friend who bought the toy was similarly unaware of the warning, the Prestatyn inquest was told.

Speaking afterwards Mr Millard said he would have liked to have seen more publicity about toy safety at the time of Kieran's death to prevent other families experiencing similar tragedies.

A statement was read out at the inquest from the boy's mother describing how she was unable to release the toy from Kieran's mouth.

Paramedics arrived and dislodged the shape with the aid of an instrument, but Kieran was later declared dead at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in Bodelwyddan.

Meanwhile, the British Toy and Hobby Association says toys and games have a very strong safety record.

Only around 1.5% of all accidents involve toys and where they do the product is rarely the cause, says the association. Most injuries are said to be incidental to the toy involved, ie the child tripped or fell over the product.

The industry claims toys are often blamed only for subsequent investigations to show the accident resulted from the misuse of a safe product.

Regulations cover toys' mechanical parts, flammability, toxicity, chemical and electrical properties.

The British Toy and Hobby Association also operates an extensive labelling system which is designed to help parents give their children age-appropriate toys.