THE death of a seven-week-old baby remains unascertained, an inquest has ruled.

Troy Gareth Holliday, of Mona Road, Blackburn, died on April 10 this year while he was asleep in his parents’ bed.

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Blackburn Coroner’s Court heard how Troy’s dad, Gareth Holliday, battled to save the youngster after he awoke to find him bleeding from the nose.

Troy had been described as healthy by his auntie, Margaret Garth, who coroner Michael Singleton was told had ‘effectively acted as Troy’s mother’ because his mum, Holly Bell, was poorly after giving birth.

The coroner read out a statement from Lancashire police, who spoke to both parents after Troy’s death before deciding to take no further action. It said how the family had gone to bed at midnight before waking at 1am and 4.20am to feed Troy.

After the second feed, Troy was taken from his Moses basket and fell asleep beside his mum.

Mr Holliday said he was awoken at 6am for his alarm to go to work when he discovered Troy bleeding from the nose with his legs under the couple’s duvet. He dialled 999 immediately and administered CPR but Troy was pronounced dead at Royal Blackburn Hospital at 6.49am.

Mr Singleton said he could not rule out the possibility that either parent had accidentally laid on top of the baby, nor the possibility that there had been an unidentified natural cause of death.

Paediatric pathologist Melanie Newbold said a detailed post-mortem examination had failed to find a cause of death, natural or otherwise.

Reaching an open verdict, Mr Singleton said: “I recognise that one possibility is that there has been an accidental overlay. I can’t eliminate that but there is certainly no evidence to confirm it.

“And while it might well be a case of natural cause of death, there is nothing to confirm it.”

He added: “We often think that in 2014 we know it all, but we don’t.

“I suspect that in 15 to 20 years we will know more, with more tests and better understanding as to why it is that some babies die suddenly and unexpectedly.”