Tragedy of baby found asleep but not breathing

JON MACPHERSON

A17-DAY old baby girl who ‘suddenly and unexpectedly’ passed away could have been sleeping in a ‘potentially unsafe sleeping environment’, an inquest heard.

Holly-Mae daughter of Heys, the Bethany- Johanna Rowley and Richard Heys, was found unresponsive in her Moses basket at their home on Bold Street in Accrington.

Dr Gauri Batra, a paediatric pathologist, told an inquest at Blackburn Coroners Court how ‘clothing and other items’ could have been in the Moses basket at the time of her death and it would have been a ‘potentially unsafe sleeping environment’.

However Mr Heys said he ‘really can’t remember’ if there were clothes in the Moses basket but told the hearing it would be ‘highly unlikely’.

Paramedics were called to the house at around 7.30am on February 3 this year and arrived to find Mr Heys performing CPR.

She was taken to hospital but sadly passed away later the same day.

Dr Batra said a postmortem examination found her death was ‘unascertained’ and Holly-Mae showed no signs of infection or congenital abnormalities.

However the pathologist said if there had been clothing or other items in the Moses basket then any impact would not be detected on the post-mortem examination.

Miss Rowley said she had taken care of HollyMae the day before her death and her daughter ‘was a bit more whingy but it was nothing I was concerned about’.

The student was taken to hospital by ambulance later that evening because of gastroenteritis and returned home at 7.30am the next day.

She told the inquest that bricklayer Mr Heys had ‘made a cannabis roll-up’ and when he went upstairs to check on their daughter in the Moses basket he returned 30 seconds later saying ‘Beth I think you need to check her, I don’t think she’s breathing’.

Mr Heys, who had been looking after Holly-Mae since 10.30pm the previous night, said he had done so ‘plenty of times’ and she had ‘been her usual self’.

In a statement, paramedic Philip Evans said when he was called to the address there was a ‘strong smell of cannabis’ and the state of the house was ‘dirty and dishevelled’.

Rachel Galloway, assistant coroner, recorded an open conclusion and said: “I don’t know if there was any clothing in the Moses basket or, if there was, whether this in any way contributed to the death.”