Toddler locks mum in closet for 7 hours

Karen Kilgour, 32, sat helplessly listening to her son Harry "crashing and banging" around their Mt Eden home after he pushed the door closed about 9.30am on Friday, The New Zealand Herald reported.

Mrs Kilgour was finally freed when her husband Jason came home from work.

He had planned to attend a function after work but skipped it because of traffic - he was not due home until midnight.

Mrs Kilgour said she spent three hours trying to open the door and started screaming from the pitch-black wardrobe, hoping neighbours would hear her, but the cries upset Harry.

She was terrified he would hurt himself.

"He's very accident-prone right now. We have a ladder in our wardrobe that he likes to climb. I was scared he would get up it and fall."

Harry eventually tired himself out and fell asleep on his bedroom floor.

- NZPA