Death of newborn due to being crammed in to a single bed with her parents

An inquest have heard that the parents had been drinking vodka and smoking cannabis before they slept next to their child.

14:16 29 September 2014

16-day-old Alesha Roberts tragically died after her parents, who had been drinking vodka and smoking cannabis, crammed into a single bed with the infant. Despite getting advice from her midwife about “safe sleeping” Letisha laid her daughter in between herself and her boyfriend for a cuddle. 

 

Ms Roberts was charged with causing Alesha’s death by “overlaying” and child neglect following a police investigation. However, the allegations were dropped after medical reports differed over whether the baby died of suffocation. 

 

Miss Roberts told the hearing: "I had never smoked cannabis before that night. He smoked it from time to time but he would always go outside. I said I wanted to go but he said 'no stay'.

 

"I said 'what are we going to do' and he said we'd get a drink from over the road. We had a drink and then had a takeaway."

 

"As soon as you feed her she was happy," she added. "We were all having a little cuddle. I wouldn't say it was a conscious effort to keep us all together. It was a single bed. I think Ahmed woke up before me, it seems to black out.

 

"He said something was wrong with the baby. I would say she was on her back not wedged. She had a little sick, I went to wipe it off and I jumped. It clicked. I rang the ambulance straight away. We were doing CPR, blowing in her mouth."