Problem with heathing element on hotpoint aquarius wf240?

Hope you can help.

One of the paddles inside my drum had sheered off, so I ordered a replacement. When it arrived I began to fit it, and noticed that there was a mangled piece of metal around the heating element.

My husband isn't very good at emptying his pockets before he does a wash and I thought it was something from his pocket and removed it.

It was a bit stuck but with a good pull out it came.

I then replaced the paddle and put on a wash. When i came back to the machine it had finished, i unloaded the wash and closed the door. Thats when it started to hum of its on accord and the little red light above the on off switch started to flash!!!

I got to thinking perhaps the piece of metal was part of the machine after all.

Can you please advise me how to go about rectifying these issues.

The washing machine is an Hotpoint Aquarius WF240 1400 spin. Roughly 2 years old.

The paddles have been a problem and i'm sure i've replaced 3 so far.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give