A “CLEARLY loved” baby boy was stillborn after his mum developed deadly infection sepsis, an inquest has ruled.

Natalie Smith, 31, of London Road, Westcliff, was carrying baby Albert for 33-weeks when she suffered a strangulated bowel, which was initially misdiagnosed as constipation, as a complication from earlier surgery on December 5.

While in the care of Southend Hospital, her condition led to sepsis, a rare but serious infection which senior doctors believe contributed to baby Albert’s death.

Dr Andreas Masnarides, a consultant pathologist at St Thomas’ Hospital, in London, carried out the post-mortem. Giving evidence at Chelmsford Coroner’s Court on Thursday, he said: “I believe the death was a still-birth due to the stress of the mother being critically unwell.

“My post mortem showed the alveoli in the lungs showed no sign of breathing, baby Albert never breathed.”

The court heard that despite Natalie’s deteriorating health the night of December 5, Southend Hospital staff did not monitor baby Albert throughout the evening.

A cardiotocography scan (CTG), taken in the early evening, showed Albert’s heart rate as stable - causing doctors to believe there was a six hour window in which he died.

Giving evidence, Dr Malcolm Griffiths, a consultant gynaecologist at Luton and Dunstable Hospital, said the abdominal sepsis should have been detected sooner and Albert should have been more closely monitored.

When asked by Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray whether a caesarian section should have been performed earlier, he replied: “It might have been appropriate in Albert’s interest to have been delivered sooner.”

He added: “This was a sick lady, we should have been concerned with her well-being.

“What would have been helpful for Albert would be to have had the CTG scan.”

Under UK law, once a death is pronounced a still-birth no further investigations can take place.

Natalie and husband Ewan, 33, plan to pursue Southend Hospital through the courts for clinical negligence.

Natalie said: “The verdict was what we were expecting, but we are pleased the catalogue of failures were noted. If not for those, then Albert would still be here.

“It has been a bit of a battle to get Southend hospital to recognise the errors that were made and to hold staff accountable, but the coroner said that she hopes the hospital will follow through with the measures they have since said they have put in place to prevent this happening again – and that is what we want too.

“We want them to improve how they do their investigations and make sure that this never happens again to anyone else.

“The inquest was just another hurdle for us to get over, so there is some relief that it is now behind us.”

A Southend Hospital spokesman said it is prepared to meet the family to discuss matters further.