Mum forced to sleep on sofa on night baby died, inquest is told

Infant’s mother said ‘controlling’ partner then went to bed beside his son in Dundonald home

THE mother of a baby boy who was found dead in Co Down has told an inquest she was forced to sleep downstairs on the sofa by her “controlling and abusive” partner on the night her infant died.

Logan-james Mccartney died on Sunday, October 18, 2020 after his father Gary Mccartney fell asleep with his son secured in a V-shaped pillow in the same bed in their Dundonald home.

The three-month-old baby’s mum Chloe Mccreery told the coroner “he ordered me to go downstairs” the previous evening before she took “wrongly prescribed anti-psychotic medication” and drank a large bottle of Blue WKD.

Ms Mccreery said she asked her partner if he had been drinking but was assured he would not consume the four beers he had stored in the fridge.

“At 6.30am I heard the toilet flush and then footsteps walking,” she told the inquest.

“Then Gary began screaming, ‘He’s not breathing, he’s not breathing’.

“I could see that he [Logan] looked blue and waxy. He looked like a doll — then I screamed, ‘He’s dead’.”

The witness recalled seeing up to 10 opened Harp beer cans, five stumpy bottles of beer and a bong in the bedroom where her son died while Mr Mccartney carried out CPR.

“I suspected Gary had been drinking and I accused him of killing my baby,” Ms Mccreery recalled.

“I could smell alcohol off him and I suspected drugs.

“I was in a controlling and abusive relationship.”

A 999 call was made at 6.52am and an ambulance arrived within 12 minutes to take Logan to the emergency department — he was pronounced dead at 7.16am.

A pathologist told the inquest the cause of death was bronchopneumonia, which likely followed a bacterial infection caused by Klebsiella oxytoca.

However, Dr Caroline Gannon said babies co-sleeping in adult-sized beds is “known to have risks” and on the balance of probabilities “could have contributed to death”.

“Babies of mothers who smoke during pregnancy are also at greater risk of death,” the doctor added.

Ms Mccreery admitted smoking 15 cigarettes a day during her pregnancy and smoking in the kitchen of her home.

Dr Gannon also said the part of Logan’s brain which controls respiration may have been damaged due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around Logan’s neck at birth on July 11.

“It’s very hard to quantify and it could have been a combination of factors,” Dr Gannon concluded.

Ms Mccreery said her “Army man” partner regularly kept a case of beer in the car and regularly used cocaine and cannabis.

She claimed he also had a history of consuming illegally purchased Diazepam adding: “I was forced to take them [pills] as well.”

Legal representatives of Mr Mccartney, who has not yet given evidence, said he denies drinking and drug use on the night in question.

They said Mr Mccartney also claims he was the victim of abuse by his then partner who was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder after ending the relationship with support from Women’s Aid.

“As a carer he was well able. He was not the Neanderthal type character you have portrayed,” the lawyer said.

“He wasn’t an imbecile when it came to looking after children.”

The witness attributed the absence of details about the beer cans in her initial statement to being frightened.

“I was scared of his violent behaviour towards me,” Ms Mccreery added.

“When he was sober he was a great father.”

The coroner was also told that a neighbour said they did not smell alcohol off Mr Mccartney on the morning of the tragedy.

‘As a carer he was well able. He was not the Neanderthal type character you have portrayed’