A CORONER has spoken of her wish for a breakthrough in investigations into cot death after an inquest into the death of a healthy six-month-old baby girl.

The hearing was told that Lorin Alane Walsh, who died in a cot at the side of her parents' bed, was another victim of the mysterious Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or cot death, which continues to baffle scientists.

Recording a verdict of natural causes, deputy coroner Carolyn Singleton said that despite all her expertise and her best endeavours, consultant paediatric pathologist Dr Melanie Newbold had been unable to find a cause of death.

"We have all read about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, which is well-established and unfortunately kills a lot of babies every year," said Mrs Singleton. "At the moment the experts do not know what the cause is and we can only hope that a reason for these deaths will be found so that people will know what to do to avoid them."

Lorin's parents, Trevor Walsh and Gillian Irwin, who lived in Olive Lane, Darwen, at the time of the death, said Lorin had been perfectly normal the day before her death.

The couple had gone out the previous night, leaving Lorin and her two-year-old sister Jade with Miss Irwin's cousin James Murdoch and his girlfriend Heather Johnson.

The couple returned home at 1.30am and went straight to bed in the same room as the children. At 6.45 the following morning when Trevor went to the bathroom he noticed that Lorin was lying face down and not on her side as was normal.

Trevor turned the little girl over and immediately saw that her lips were blue. He woke Gillian before rushing next door to get her mother and send for an ambulance. He took instructions over the phone and passed them to grandmother Elizabeth Irwin who tried frantically to revive the baby.

Gillian told the inquest that there had been nothing at all to make her think that Lorin was anything other than fit and healthy.

Dr Newbold described Lorin as a normal grown and normally formed little girl. There were no signs of injuries or disease and, despite exhaustive tests, she had been unable to ascertain the cause of death.

"There was no evidence at all that it was anything other than a natural cause," said Dr Newbold. "This little girl comes in the age group where we know babies can suddenly die and the way in which she was found in the morning would be quite typical of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome."