A MOTHER claims her five-year-old daughter was accidentally locked in a dark church crypt for two hours during a school holiday club.

The woman, from the Holgate area of York, said the little girl went with another five-year-old girl to the toilet under St Paul’s Church in Holgate Road, just as staff were preparing to take all the children to the cinema.

The St Paul’s Out of School Club staff did not realise the girls were missing, and locked the door to the crypt with the two children inside and the lights switched off, she claimed.

They then walked with the remaining children to the Reel Cinema in Blossom Street, and only realised their mistake when the film ended and pair were discovered in the crypt.

The mother said her daughter had been traumatised by her experiences during the February half-term holiday club.

The little girl now struggles to leave her parents to go into school, her parents said, is afraid of being left alone and won’t go to any other childcare.

According to her daughter, the two little girls had made a den in a corner and cuddled together, but she had been scared and cried for her parents while they were alone.

Ofsted is now investigating.

The mother said she understands the woman in charge of the children that day has subsequently resigned.

A spokesperson from St Paul's Out of School Club said: “We take our safeguarding responsibilities very seriously indeed and continue to take the advice of Ofsted with whom we are working during its investigation.”