A healthy baby boy was less than five months old when he tragically died at an Oldham home, an inquest has heard.
At Rochdale Coroners Court yesterday (Tuesday, January 30), an inquest was held into the death of Tion-Jai Steven Williams by assistant coroner Michael Salt.
The infant boy was born in Oldham in July 2022 and lived on Featherstall Road North with his mother, Ffion.
The court heard that both Ffion and Tion-Jai, along with the former's partner, were staying at the home of Ffion's sister on Raper Street, Oldham, in December 2022, as the sister was due to give birth.
Ffion and her partner were at the address to babysit her sister's children and were sleeping on a couch in the living room, with Tion-Jai sleeping on a separate couch.
At around 11am on the morning of December 15, Ffion noticed her infant son looked tired and so he was put on the couch he had slept on the previous night.
Ffion returned to Tion-Jai around an hour later but found him unresponsive.
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Emergency services were called and Tion-Jai was taken to Royal Oldham Hospital, however he died shortly after 1pm following unsuccessful attempts to revive him.
A post-mortem examination was carried out by Dr Gemma Petts, a paediatric histopathologist, and Home Office pathologist, Dr Charles Wilson.
Speaking at the inquest, Dr Wilson said Tion-Jai was a "well-nourished, healthy child" and that "no direct cause of death was found" by either himself or Dr Petts.
He added that "nothing particular was established" and therefore Tion-Jai's cause of death was unascertained.
DI Nicholas Helme of Greater Manchester Police also gave evidence to the court, saying that there were no suspicious circumstances found in relation to Tion-Jai's death.
In his conclusion, Mr Salt described Tion-Jai's death as "very sad" and "tragic", adding he was a healthy boy whose death was "entirely unexpected".
He accepted the cause of death as unascertained and ruled an open conclusion.
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