THEY cried and held hands for most of the inquest.

Cleo Jenkins and Phillip Wright were reliving every parent's worst nightmare - the death of a child. Their baby, Jack, was one month old when he died at home in Picow Street, Runcorn, in September.

They'd last seen him alive when they put him to sleep between them in bed. The couple, both unemployed and now living in Castle Rise, broke down in tears as they told Cheshire Coroner's Court what happened next.

Cleo said: "When I woke I just knew something was wrong, and I listened to see if he was breathing but he wasn't and I started screaming."

Neighbour John Whitby, of Arthur Street, was called and he found Cleo 'crying her eyes out' with the baby in her arms.

He tried to resuscitate baby Jack, but it was too late. The police investigated, as they do in all cases where an infant suddenly dies, but there were no suspicious circumstances.

A Home Office pathologist, Dr Brian Jones, told the inquest baby Jack died from either accidental suffocation, or, more likely, a form of cot death.

"There was nothing this couple could have done to prevent this," he said.

The couple still have two children. Smartly dressed, the couple supported each other through Friday's hearing, often finishing each other's sentences.

Deputy coroner Dr Janet Napier told them: "I really do feel sorry for you. It's an absolute nightmare. By putting him in your bed, you were doing what people all over the country do when a baby is crying.

"You did absolutely nothing wrong."

She recorded a verdict of death by natural causes, by unascertained means.