Laindon Riley Coombes: Baby boy died with drugs in his system

Riley Coombes, aged 11 weeks and six days, was found unresponsive at his home in King Edward Road in Laindon on June 17 2019.

The inquest into his death, held at Essex Coroners Court in Chelmsford, yesterday heard he had been sharing a bed with his mother and two siblings before his death.

The pathologists could not identify an exact cause of death.

Detective inspector Andy Clarkson said: “We were called by the ambulance service which was called to reports of a cardiac arrest of the baby boy.

“There were inconsistencies in the mother’s statements to do with sleeping arrangements. She initially told police Riley was found in his Moses basket under the window on the floor but the following day she told police she had lied and Riley had slept in the bed with her and the two siblings.

“The house was untidy and there were unclean sheets and the carpet was heavily stained and there was a smell of urine and faeces and there was no curtains or coverings on the bedroom window.”

Coroner Lincoln Brookes said: “The mother said she gave the conflicting account because she didn’t want to get into trouble and she wanted it to be a cot death. Riley wouldn’t settle in the basket and sleeping in the bed was an everyday occurrence.”

Summing in the findings by forensic pathologist, Dr Virginia Fitzpatrick-Swallow and also Consultant in paediatric and perinatal pathology Dr Liina Palm, Mr Brookes said: “The examinations found Riley was a normally developed boy with no signs of malnourishment, physical neglect, injury and he had an unremarkable skeleton.

“Toxicology examinations found no alcohol but very low levels of cocaine in his system, he was exposed to cocaine before his death but examinations found it was unlikely to have had a significant affect on him in the time before his death.

“There were no positive findings for a specific cause of death. A medical cause of death was recorded as unascertained. I will therefore record an open conclusion.”