A MOTHER has told how she desperately tried to revive her baby, who was a victim of cot death.

Kerry-Marie Jeffries was taking instructions from 999 staff as she battled to save three-month-old Dale.

At an inquest into Dale's death yesterday, a statement from his 21-year-old mother was read to Teesside Coroner Michael Sheffield.

It said Miss Jeffries was woken by her cousin, Ben Taylor, who had been helping to look after her three children.

She said she could see Dale was "completely floppy" and ordered Mr Taylor to call the emergency services.

Miss Jeffries rushed from the bedroom of her flat in Penrith Road, Middlesbrough, to the ground floor, where she took the phone's handset from her cousin.

The statement said: "I did everything I was told by the emergency services, but it was not making Dale breathe."

Paramedics also tried in vain to resuscitate Dale, and staff at the James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, also attempted to revive him.

Miss Jeffries described Dale, who weighed 8lb 2oz at birth and suffered no illnesses during his short life, as "a healthy, happy, bright, strong baby" before his death on July 12.

Mr Taylor told Mr Sheffield he noticed something was wrong when he saw the baby's stomach was not going up and down, so he listened for a breath, but could hear nothing.

Home Office pathologist Dr Nigel Cooper told the inquest that extensive tests and a post-mortem examination failed to provide a definite explanation for Dale's death.

He said the most likely cause was sudden infant death syndrome, and that Dale had probably died before any of the resuscitation attempts began. Mr Sheffield recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.