A GRIEVING family were today ending a six-week wait to bury the child whose death sparked a major investigation -- with still no clue as to what killed him.
Keira McGeough, 23, of Leicester Road, Blackburn, and her partner Wayne Knight will today lay their 18-month-old son Jake to rest after he died at Liverpool's Alder Hey Hospital in the early hours of Sunday July 8.
A major investigation by police chiefs, the Liverpool coroner and hospital bosses has yet failed to reveal the cause of the toddler's death, three days after he was transferred to the hospital from Blackburn's Queen's Park Hospital with a suspected chest infection.
The pair, who have three other young children, Nicole, eight, four-year-old Danielle and Wayne, five, were due to hold the funeral at St Joseph's RC Church at Audley Range, before burial at Pleasington.
Jake will be buried with his favourite comfort blanket surrounded by a selection of his favourite teddy bears.
It is believed further tests are now being carried out on samples taken from Jake's body after two post mortem examinations proved inconclusive.
An inquest was opened last Friday and adjourned for mention until Friday November 5 to allow the coroner to release his body for burial.
Keira said the family had wanted to bury Jake as soon as possible to give him some dignity and so that her other children could help understand what had happened.
She said: "It's been a long struggle for us all. We still do not know how he died or when the inquest will be. We just want to get on with the funeral and bury Jake and ask all the questions later.
"I'm hoping this will make it better for the children so they can get it over with and then they know he's gone up to heaven." Liverpool coroner Andre Rebello had previously stated that an inquest would not be opened until the exact cause of death had been revealed.
But a spokesman for the town's coroner's office today said it would not be unusual for an inquest to be opened without knowing the exact cause of death so the body could be released and the family could begin the grieving process properly.
They said it would be likely that further tests on samples from Jake's body would be carried out to ascertain the cause of death.
A spokesman for the Royal Liverpool Children's NHS Trust said the hospital was still in the process of conducting its own internal investigation, but said no details could be released because of patient confidentiality.
A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: "We are still liaising closely with the hospital and with the coroner's office."
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