A NINE-day-old baby died after her father fell asleep next to her on a settee, an inquest heard.

Hope Elizibeth Ivy Hammett died hours after parents Pauline Frear and Gordon Hammett held a party to celebrate her birth, the hearing was told.

Following a complicated pregnancy, Miss Frear gave birth to Hope, who was four weeks premature and weighed less than four pounds, by a caesarean section on May 12.

The baby was allowed back to the family home in Brunshaw Road, Burnley two days later.

The hearing at Burnley Magistrates Court was told Hope had been unwell on May 20, the day her parents organised the party.

At about 4.30am the next day, Mr Hammett took Hope out of her Moses basket she slept in in her parents' bedroom so Miss Frear could get to sleep.

The inquest was told Mr Hammett when downstairs and placed Hope at one end of the sofa and he sat at the opposite end where he fell asleep.

Miss Frear went downstairs at about 5.15am to find her partner asleep sat upright and her daughter not breathing, the hearing was told Hope was taken to Burnley General Hospital but doctors could not resuscitate her.

Dr Melanie Newbould, pathologist at Manchester Children's Hospital, Pendlebury, said a post mortem examination revealed Hope had no injuries or was suffering from any illness.

She said the cause of death was sudden infant death syndrome but not much was known about what caused the condition.

Dr Newbould added: "There does seem to be an increase in this sort of death where babies are small, or they are born early or where babies sleep with an adult sometimes on a bed or on an unconventional piece of furniture such as a chair or settee."

Recording a verdict of natural causes East Lancashire coroner Richard Taylor said: "This is an area of medical science where a lot of work still has to be done.

"Parents that get struck by this are left desolated at their loss."