Parents warned after baby death

Parents were warned about letting their babies sleep with them after an inquest was told how a girl was suffocated.

Five-week-old Ellesse Viccars died after being placed in the middle of her parents' bed.

The inquest at Kettering, Northamptonshire, heard that her parents Danielle Viccars and Ryan Roberts would normally move her into a Moses basket once she was asleep.

But on 14 April this year they both fell asleep and woke to find their daughter cold and not breathing.

'Sleep dangers'

Recording a verdict of accidental death, Northamptonshire coroner Anne Pember said: "It was a tragedy that Ellesse was placed in the bed so she could go to sleep.

"Parents should be aware of the dangers of allowing their little, new born children to sleep with them."

Home Office Pathologist Dr Clive Bouch, of Leicester Royal Infirmary, said the cause of death was asphyxia as a result of overlay.

"The changes to the lungs, skull and marks on the body all point to the cause being overlay as being put to bed between her parents."