Tragic newborn baby girl dies after mum falls asleep on sofa with her
03.08.2022 - 10:55
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A tragic newborn baby girl died after her mum fell asleep on the settee with her just weeks after leaving hospital.
Billy-Jo Mary-Jane Stewart was found 'lifeless' and 'pressed up against' her mum Tameka on the sofa at their home in Skelmersdale, in Lancashire, an inquest heard. She had fallen asleep in her mum's arms, before the new mum then fell asleep herself.
When Tameka realised her daughter was not responding, she ran into the street and screamed for help. A coroner described the baby's death as a 'very sad accident'.
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The inquest at Preston Coroners' Court heard how Billy-Jo was born at Ormskirk District General Hospital on October 21 in 2020. After she and her mum were discharged, they returned to the family home.
On the evening of November 17 in 2020, Tameka fed Billy-Jo before placing her back in the rocker at the side of the settee. At around 7am, she went to have a cigarette before returning to feed the baby.
Billy-Jo fell asleep in her mother's arms and Tameka fell asleep shortly afterwards. At around noon she woke up to find Billy-Jo 'lifeless'.
The baby was rushed to hospital where, despite resuscitation attempts, she was pronounced dead. When her mother was interviewed at the hospital by Detective Inspector Chris Wellard she admitted she had taken cocaine the day before, when she didn't have her two children with her, and a police investigation was launched.
DI Wellard told the inquest that although toxicology tests confirmed the presence of cocaine metabolites in her mother's system, there was insufficient evidence to charge her with an offence because it was impossible to say if she had been unresponsive at the time she was looking after