HE didn’t know it, but one year ago baby Freddie Jackson was taking the scariest journey of his life.

After being born three-months prematurely while his mum and dad were on holiday in the Spanish resort of Benidorm, tiny Freddie — who weighed just two pounds at birth — had to be brought back to Bolton in a special incubator on a private plane.

Now baby Freddie is preparing to go back to Spain in much different circumstances — on his first family holiday.

His dramatic birth came about as mum Karla Hornby and dad Jordan Jackson, from Breightmet, had been relaxing by the pool on April 18 last year, enjoying their last holiday before Freddie was born.

To their shock, Karla’s waters suddenly broke and she was forced to undergo an emergency caesarean section.

The couple faced a nervous wait to see if Freddie would survive, but he fought for his life and eventually started to grow stronger.

Family and friends raised funds to help the family with living costs while they were stranded in Spain until eventually specialist staff were able to bring Freddie home.

The tiny fighter was carefully transported with his parents praying that he would arrive safely back in Bolton.

One year since that day and Freddie is now a happy, healthy little boy who has just started crawling.

His mum says the events of a year ago seem like a distant memory.

She said: “It feels really strange thinking about it now, almost like it didn’t happen to us — it was very surreal.

“I remember thinking that we were never going to come home and it felt like we had been there for years.”

She added: “I still talk about it all the time and we still get lots of people asking how Freddie is, which is lovely.”

“He is still small but he has got no health problems now and he is hitting all of his targets. He is always smiling and laughing, I think he is just happy to be here.”

Mrs Hornby, 30 and Mr Jackson, 22, are planning to get married in 2018 but will be spending some quality time with their baby boy before then — starting with a holiday to Spain.

And when Freddie is up and walking, they are planning to take him back to the scene of his dramatic birth.

Karla said: “We want to visit the hospital and the people from the charity’s that helped us and thank them in person.

“I also think it would be closure for us to walk out of the hospital doors with him.”