A MOTHER wept as she relived the moment she was arrested on suspicion of murdering her two sons while visiting her other child in hospital.

And Donna Hanson told how detectives revealed to her partner Robert Woods that she had considered having a termination while pregnant with one of the boys.

Miss Hanson, 26, of Accrington, spoke during the first day of the inquest into the death of three-month-old Toby Woods, who died on September 28, 1999 -10 months after 10-month-old Ashley.

She has endured an agonising five-year wait for answers - with the hand of suspicion hanging over her as police probed whether the deaths were a tragic coincidence or murder.

Miss Hanson, who was told she would not face criminal charges last year, told an inquest jury at Clitheroe town hall: "At one point I'd been so happy. I had everything I wanted. A house, a job, a partner, we were parents, and then all this happened.

"A nurse asked me to go into a sideroom (at Queen's Park'

Hospital, Blackburn) and when I went in there, a detective called Bob Eastwood said they were arresting me on suspicion of murder.

"I couldn't believe it, I couldn't take any of it in. I asked if I could said goodbye to the people I was with, but they said no and took me to the police station.

"They told me they'd told Robert that I'd wanted a termination with Toby. I don't know why I had never told him, I wish I had. I really do.

"I'd decided I couldn't go through with it, and Ashley had been ill so I put it to the back of my mind. When Toby was born, I was so glad I hadn't gone through with it.

"Robert should have heard from me, not them. They told me my family didn't want anything more to do with me. I didn't know what to think, I thought it was true."

The hearing, which is expected to last two weeks, was told that an inquest into Ashley's death returned a verdict of unascertained natural causes.

Miss Hanson, of Church Street, Accrington, said her partner Robert Woods had tried to make Ashley start breathing again after she found him looking pale and limp within hours of returning from hospital with him.

And she relived the moment Toby had stopped breathing at the home she was then sharing with Mr Woods, in Pendle Street, Accrington.

She told the inquest that after Toby's birth on June 15, 1999, he been on the Care of the Next Infant (Coni) scheme, which provides support for parents who have lost a previous child.

The couple had turned down parts of the scheme, including the offer of being taught resuscitation skills on a plastic doll.

But they had agreed to use a monitor for his breathing, which would sound an alarm whenever he struggled to breathe. She said the alarm sounded while Toby was in his pram at the couple's home.

Miss Hanson said: "I rang for the ambulance and the woman on the end of the phone told me how do CPR. Toby had gone pale and wasn't responding to me at all. I kept thinking that this couldn't be happening to me again.

"The paramedics got there and took us to hospital but it was too late. He was pronounced dead there. When Toby was born, I thought 'this is meant to be.' I thought we'd been given another chance. All I've wanted to know is what happened to Toby."

(Proceeding)