A MUM and dad's efforts to provide a safer bed for their baby son to sleep in ended in tragedy, an inquest heard.

Seven-month-old Jack Pettengale was found hanging from the bars of his lower bunk by his father who was making a routine check on the sleeping child.

An inquest heard how David Pettengale had installed the bars as a safety measure to stop his son from rolling out of the bottom bunk of the bed.

But Walthamstow Coroner's Court was told how the alteration may have proved fatal.

Mr Pettengale and his partner Lorraine Betts bought the bed for their two sons from the Bargain Beds store in Walthamstow.

After discovering that there was no safety bar on the lower bunk and being unable to buy one, Mr Pettengale moved one of the bars down from the upper bunk.

The dad, of Luton Road, Walthamstow, told the inquest: "We made a variation to the bed, because there was no safety bar.

"Lorraine asked to buy a safety bar at the shop, but the shopkeeper said to take one from the other side of the top bunk which was against the wall."

He revealed how on March 21, he put Jack to bed for his normal afternoon sleep.

But on going to wake Jack later that afternoon Mr Pettengale found his son hanging out of the side of the bed, caught in the bars up to his chest, facing toward the bed.

He said: "I pulled him out straight away and laid him on his back.

"I saw a change in him and I moved him to our double bed and phoned 999."

Ambulance worker Sonia Williams said in written evidence to the inquest that when the ambulance crew arrived at the scene they found the baby lying on the bed.

She said: "The baby had a pale complexion and my immediate reaction was to resuscitate him."

Baby Jack was resuscitated at Whipps Cross Hospital and transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital but he died the next day.

Karen Tillet from Waltham Forest Consumer Protection Services told the inquest that the modified bed had failed to comply with safety standards.

She said: "We tested the guard rails on the bed with a probe.

"The gaps in the bottom rail passed through in excess of 75 millimetres in all parts of the length of the bed and did not comply with safety standards."

Pathologist Dr Diana Cox said there was no clear medical evidence in the case and the cause of death remained unascertainable.

In view of this medical evidence, coroner Geoffrey Tompkins said he could only return an open verdict in the case.

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