Mum’s pain in finding baby dead

A HEARTBROKEN mother has spoken of the moment she woke up to find her baby had died - and how she will never know what caused her shock death.

Ava Owen-Wilson was almost three months old when she died at her family home in Middleton just a few days after Christmas.

Her mum, Ashley Owen, fed Ava in the early hours and put her back to bed, falling asleep nearby on a sofa.

But just several hours later, Ashely woke to find her body cold and lifeless.

An inquest has taken place into Ava’s sudden death on December 29, 2016. Coroner Michael Salt recorded an open verdict, saying there was no clear medical reason for the tot’s death.

Ava’s family will now never know what took her life, and Ashley, 31, of Tennyson Road, has spoken about the day that changed her life for ever.

She said: “I woke up at around 7am and walked over to her and that’s when I knew. She had no colour. She was cold. I screamed the house down.”

Ashley had previously worked as a lifeguard so tried to revive her daughter. Paramedics were called and she was taken to Royal Oldham Hospital but sadly there was nothing doctors could do. A police investigation took place, as with all deaths of children. A post mortem found there were no internal or external injuries to Ava and a toxicology report showed there were no traces of alcohol or drugs in her blood. Overlaying - where someone accidentally smothers a child to death by rolling over them in sleep - was also ruled out. Ava had been born prematurely at 34 weeks and spent ten days in hospital recovering from jaundice. She also suffered with bronchiolitis but the inquest heard these were not factors that led to her death. Dr Philip Lumb, a forensic pathologist who carried out the post mortem, spoke at the inquest and said he was unable to identify the cause of the baby’s death. Speaking after the inquest, Ashley said: “That morning was terrible. My world ended that day. It was the worst thing ever. “She was brilliant. She changed my life. She was amazing.” Ashley, who is now pregnant again and due to give birth in February, said the verdict had given her closure on Ava’s death. Ashley Owen