A CORONER has told the parents of a tragic four-month-old baby from Burnley that they could not have done anything to prevent the ‘cot death’ of their beloved daughter.

Elizabeth Goater, of St Stephen’s Street, had been born six weeks premature but was making good progress, according to doctors, Burnley Coroner’s Court was told.

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But after mother Michela Hall had put her down to sleep on January 10, then fed her during the night, she awoke to find Elizabeth ‘unresponsive’ the following morning, an inquest heard.

The emergency services were immediately alerted but the baby was pronounced dead at 7.23am that day.

Dr Melanie Newbould, a consultant paediatric pathologist at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, said that extensive tests were conducted on the baby as part of a post-mortem examination. No evidence of any disease process, virus or bacterial infection could be found and nothing emerged following an X-ray and several other related tests.

Dr Newbould said: “We used to call this cot death, or sudden infant death syndrome – but to say that is not particularly helpful as it does not give us a cause of death.”

Other factors which could contribute to cot deaths, such as having the baby sleeping in the same bed as parents, or the temperature in the room not being regulated, were also not present.

Recording a verdict of death by an undiagnosed natural cause, East Lancashire coroner Richard Taylor said medical science still had not progressed far enough to provide answers regarding such deaths. He said: “This was an absolute tragedy, out of the blue, which you could have done nothing about, and I would like to express my sincere condolences for your loss.”