THE parents of a baby who died at only five hours old have spoken of their heartbreak at never getting the chance to hold their son before his death.

Gillian Hoyle, who was born in Redcar, east Cleveland, had travelled 200 miles from her Bradford home to Middlesbrough's James Cook University Hospital for the birth of her son.

Teesside Coroner's Court heard that Mrs Hoyle went into labour on June 8 last year but the delivery became complicated.

When 8lb 8ozs Maxim, named after a Daphne De Maurier character, was delivered using a suction cup, it was discovered his umbilical cord was twice wrapped around his neck.

The cord was quickly cut and the baby was transferred to an incubator, but he died hours later due to cardio-respiratory arrest.

Recording an open verdict yesterday, Teesside Coroner Michael Sheffield said the evidence did not give a clear indication of how the death occurred.

After the inquest, Mrs Hoyle, 38, and husband Keith, said that they have not ruled out taking legal action against the hospital.

They said they had been left traumatised by the experience and welcomed the coroner's open verdict.

Mrs Hoyle said: "He was all we wanted and we never got the chance to hold him when he was alive - I never even heard him cry.

"Listening to the evidence was incredibly harrowing, but we know we have done everything we could do to get answers. I don't know how we got through it.

"We got the verdict we wanted but we are still considering legal action."

In 2001, Mrs Hoyle gave birth to a girl, who died only an hour later from a serious cardiac abnormality. She also later suffered a miscarriage.

She has not ruled out trying for another baby, but she said: "I have buried my little girl and I have buried my little boy, and at the moment I don't know whether I could face it again."

A spokeswoman for the James Cook University Hospital said: "Obviously, this is a very tragic time for the family and everyone concerned, and we offer our condolences to them.

"As a trust, we feel Max received all the necessary treatment and staff did everything they possibly could to save him.

"We were shocked and saddened by his death."