Mother’s torment as she finds two of her triplets dead
A MOTHER ran from her house screaming after waking to find two of her five-month-old triplet sons dead.
Sarah Owen, 30, rushed out in her pyjamas on Saturday morning crying ‘my babies, my babies’ while clutching her surviving son Ethan to her chest, neighbours said.
Police are investigating what killed brothers Charlie and Noah after firemen initially checked their home in Bridgend, South Wales, for a gas leak.
However, detectives ruled out carbon monoxide poisoning, saying only that the babies had died in a ‘tragic accident’.
Medical staff have reportedly told Miss Owen it could be at least a week before they know how the boys died.
The family is awaiting results of a post-mortem examination as well as tests for Sudden Infant Death syndrome, known as cot death.
Sally Boyd, a close family friend, told the Mail: ‘All we know is the babies didn’t wake up. Poor Mum has no idea what is going on – we don’t have any answers.’
The triplets’ grandmother Jane Owen, 54, said: ‘We just don’t know yet. We don’t know what happened.’
The brothers, born prematurely in April, had been seen by a health visitor for a routine check-up and weighing session 24 hours before the deaths.
Miss Owen had proudly told friends all were doing well.
Paramedics, police and the fire brigade all attended Miss Owen’s three-bedroom rented home at 10.05am on Saturday.
Neighbour Anne Way, 64, said: ‘Sarah was totally distraught, holding Ethan tightly to her chest. They wanted to take them both to hospital so I offered to take Ethan off her while she put her shoes on.
‘But she shouted, “Leave my baby” – she was in a terrible state. I saw the firemen carrying the two babies to the ambulances. I’ve seen dead babies before from working in the hospital, and they had been dead for hours.’
She added: ‘As far as I know they all slept in the same room.
‘I spoke to Sarah’s father later in the day and he said it wasn’t carbon monoxide.
‘She is a lovely girl and a good mother. They were beautiful little boys and coming along well.’ Friends said single mother Miss Owen doted on her sons, two of whom were identical.
All three boys spent the first month of their lives in a neonatal care unit.
Miss Owen was last night being comforted by family, friends and the boys’ father, who has not been named, at her mother’s house in Bridgend.
Their godmother Siobhan Boyd has set up a fundraising page to help her.
Donations had last night exceeded £4,500. Miss Boyd’s mother Sally, a 999 call operator, said: ‘Until the post-mortem is done we won’t have the answers. Sarah is with her mum now, she is safe and being cared for. She has a lot of friends around her.’
South Wales Police said that inquiries were continuing.
Detective Inspector Dean Taylor said: ‘There is nothing to suggest that carbon monoxide poisoning was the cause.
‘There is nothing that leads us to believe that this was anything other than a tragic accident.
‘Speculation around the cause of the deaths is unhelpful and is compounding the grief of the babies’ family members.’
An inquest will be held once post-mortem results have been released.
‘Totally distraught’ ‘Lovely girl and a good mother’