The woman who adopted double amputee Tony Hudgell will collect her OBE on the same day one of his torturers asks to be freed from jail.
But inspirational Paula Hudgell is determined her and Tony’s day out at Windsor Castle will not be marred by Anthony Smith’s appearance before the Parole Board.
Tony’s father and birth mum Jody Simpson were jailed for 10 years for abusing the boy so badly he needed both legs amputating.
Smith, 52, and Simpson, 29 – released in February – left the six-week-old with fractures, organ failure and sepsis.
Tony is now eight and thriving, but is in constant pain, needs daily physio and a wheelchair.
Paula, 55, has written a heartbreaking victim statement for Smith’s Parole Board, begging the authorities to keep him behind bars.
The OBE – presented on May 10 – is in honour of her campaign for Tony’s Law, giving tougher punishments to child abusers.
Mum-of-eight Paula said: “There is a real sense of disappointment and irony that two such important events happen to be on the same day. It’s bittersweet, but I’m going to focus on enjoying such a special once-in-a-lifetime day. It’s going to be a wonderful occasion whatever is happening elsewhere.”
Paula, from Kings Hill, Kent, will be joined at Windsor Castle by husband Mark, 58, Tony and daughter Lacey, 11.
Her statement to the Parole Board reveals that Tony has asked: “When will my legs grow back?”
Of the OBE, she adds: “We would swap all that to have our brave, funny, loving and kind Tony in one piece – whole and healthy with two legs, two knees, two feet, two ankles, ten toes, two working thumbs and two working ears and no pain."
