Heart condition killed toddler, inquest told

DALLAS SMITH . . . died the day after his third birthday

Carbon monoxide poisoning ruled out

A TODDLER who died in bed the day after his third birthday was not killed by carbon monoxide as originally feared.

Instead, a heart condition led to the death of Dallas Smith at his home in Rochdale Road, Royton, an inquest heard yesterday.

The family has now been urged to test other young relatives for cardiac arrhythmia, a condition which affects the rhythm of the heart and is usually genetic in children.

Claire Smith (35) found her son’s lifeless body face down on his bed on January 27, 2008.

Ms Smith had expressed concerns about the boiler in the children’s bedroom after the family complained of feeling tired and unwell two weeks earlier.

A post-mortem examination found evidence of oxygen deprivation, but none of carbon monoxide poisoning. The cause of death was initially unascertained. However, Dr Gauri Batra, a consultant paediatric pathologist, changed her opinion after Ms Smith gave evidence on Monday.

Ms Smith said her daughter, Madison, had only recently revealed that she had witnessed her brother throwing himself around the bed and shaking before he died.

The girl was so frightened that she asked to sleep with her mother that night. Dr Barta said that this indicated a fit and gave the cause of death as a cardiac arrhythmia.

“Due to problems with the electrical flow, the heart stops pumping blood which causes the brain to be starved of oxygen which results in the fit and the subsequent death,” she explained.

There was no evidence that this was the result of unnatural causes or a toxin.

Ms Smith said Dallas’s mattress smelled like nail varnish, adding: “When you put your face to it, it gave you a glue-type feeling in your head. It was absolutely saturated.”

A new mattress bought after his death also smelled, and relatives who stayed over felt ill said Ms Smith, who added that she would not let her daughter sleep in the room. But forensic toxicologist Dr Craig Chatterton said blood samples from Dallas showed zero carbon monoxide.

He added: “I am totally confident that Dallas had no carbon monoxide in his body at the time of his death.”

Tests for the metal manganese were also carried out at the request of Stephanie Trotter, president of the charity Co-Gas safety, who wants an investigation into the toxins released by gas.

The sample taken from Dallas had just under 20 times the normal level of manganese, but none was found in samples from his mother or Madison.

Dr Chatterton said this could have been caused by contamination from the sample’s container, and added: “If exposure to this particular type of material had occurred within a household, one would expect all members of the family to be exposed.”

The inquest continues.