A lucky five-year-old has won a national competition to be a toy tester.

Liam Redfern from Front Street in Sunniside, County Durham, will join an expert panel of ten children at North-West-based toy company Martin Yaffe.

The company selects three to six-year-olds from across the country every year during the run-up to Christmas.

Liam and nine others were picked out of hundreds of children from across the country.

He will visit the toy company next Friday to put his toy expertise into practice, testing products such as Bob the Builder and Rupert the Bear toys, as well as many new inventions.

The panel will offer an insight into which toys will be most in demand during the run-up to Christmas and the children will be free to test all the products in the toy showroom.

Liam's mother, Vicky Redfern, said: "I am delighted that my son has been chosen to join the play panel. He is such a bright, fun-loving child and really knows his mind when it comes to toys."

Peter Hatton, toy director at Martin Yaffe said: "The panel is the perfect way to hear from the kids themselves about which toys they will be asking for at Christmas."