Autistic boy's death unexplained

A three-year-old autistic boy died mysteriously 10 months after his infant half-brother suffered a cot death, an inquest in Hampshire was told.

Jacob Langford's body was found in bed at his home in Bishopstoke, on 7 September, 2006.

That day would have been the first birthday of his brother Reece who died on 13 October 2005 from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (Sids).

The inquest in Winchester into Jacob's death recorded an open verdict.

Alerted neighbours

His mother, Sarah Sim, said she had fallen asleep and was awoken by her partner Gavin Newsom shouting that Jacob was not breathing.

She alerted neighbours who tried to resuscitate him before he was taken to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester.

A post-mortem examination carried out at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London by paediatric pathologist Prof Rupert Risdon was inconclusive.

But he said that there were signs of haemorrhage in his lungs which meant he may have suffered asphyxiation on more than one occasion.

The post mortem finding for that child [Reece] is worrying, there were haemorrhages in the lungs as well Prof Rupert Risdon

Prof Risdon added that he had reviewed the results of the post-mortem test carried out on Reece.

"The post mortem finding for that child is worrying, there were haemorrhages in the lungs as well," he said.

But he said there were no external injuries on Jacob, adding that there was no known link between autism and Sids.

The inquest heard that blood samples taken from both Ms Sim and Mr Newsom on the day following Jacob's death revealed that they had previously taken cannabis and Ms Sim had taken amphetamines.

Mr Newsom admitted smoking a cannabis joint on that night and Ms Sim said she could not remember.

Det Sgt Anthony Lewis, of Hampshire police's child abuse investigation team, said that both Ms Sim and Mr Newsom were arrested but released without charge and the case had been closed.

Coroner Grahame Short said no cause of death could be ascertained.