Tot dies in car seat while parents out at bar
A BABY girl died after being left in a car seat overnight in a hotel room as her parents “socialised” in the bar downstairs, a serious case review heard.
Margaret Atherton, 36, and Steven Burke, 29, who were known to authorities for their alcohol misuse, had gone to Blackpool in July 2016 with a one-yearold child and 10-week-old twins.
They said the twins’ carry cot was “too heavy” to carry three fights of stairs to their attic room so they placed them in their car seats, propped up on bunk beds.
One of the twins, Savannah, was found dead at 10am.
She was the third child of the couple’s to die in 16 months, after the deaths of Jackson and Leyton at three days old and 16 months old respectively .
Following Savannah’s death, a criminal investigation was launched, but neither parent was charged. Wigan Safeguarding Children Board’s report said she had been born prematurely and was in the high risk category for “sudden and unexpected infant death”. At an inquest, the coroner reported a narrative verdict. The couple have since had another child. But Burke, who was jailed for 30 months for robbery, has split from Atherton. She claims she was hounded out of her home town of Wigan, Lancs, after the deaths.
Now living in Blackburn, she said: “It was one mistake – a terrible mistake. Yeah, we shouldn’t have left her in a car seat and that. But we were away for a few days, we had this massive pram and we were at the top of this hotel. “It’s just a terrible mistake.” Burke said: “I’m no monster.”