Mystery surrounds tragic death of baby boy found unresponsive at grandmother's Lancashire house
Mystery surrounds the tragic death of a baby boy found unresponsive at his grandmother's Lancashire house.
One-year-old Reuben Yates' distraught mum found him not breathing on a bed.
She had left him in a sleeping bag earlier at her mother's home in Halifax Road, Burnley.
At an inquest at Preston Coroners Court, area coroner Chris Long said he could not be sure how Reuben, of Glastonbury, died.
Mr Long read a statement from pathologist Dr Philip Lumb, who carried out a post mortem examination on Reuben.
He gave the cause of death as "unascertained" but added that unsafe sleeping conditions could be a contributory factor.
Dr Lumb said Reuben was a healthy young boy who had travelled North with his mother, visiting Preston and then on to Burnley in September 2023.
At his grandmother's house, his mother Antonia Wood placed him in a travel cot and went downstairs. Later she heard him crying and after feeding him left him on her bed.
She went back downstairs to watch TV and fell asleep. In the middle of the night she awoke and went upstairs to find him unresponsive.
Reuben's legs were in the sleeping bag and he was lying on his back, slightly overhanging the side of the bed.
He was taken to Royal Blackburn Hospital but could not be revived.
Dr Lumb said it was possible that Reuben had slipped over the side of the bed and that had disrupted his airways. There was no obvious cause of death.
The inquest heard that police investigated and found no suspicious circumstances.
Reuben's grandmother Cheryl Wood said in a statement that she heard Reuben stirring at around 2am in a neighbouring room but assumed his mother was with him.
At around 4am she heard her daughter shouting his name and the family quickly dialled 999.
Recording a narrative conclusion, coroner Mr Long said Reuben's death would continue to be unexplained.
"It isn't possible with the available evidence to ascertain how he died," he said.
Mr Long said he could not be satisfied whether or not the sleeping arrangements contributed to Reuben's death.
He expressed his sympathies to Reuben's family.