A three week old baby from Bushey died of a "common and sudden" bacterial infection an inquest heard today.

James Tomkins was just 20 days old when his mother woke to find one side of his face had turned purple and within seconds he stopped breathing.

The inquest was told his parents checked on James at 3am and he “seemed fine” but he was pronounced dead shortly after being rushed to Watford General Hospital at 6am on April 28.

A post mortem, carried out by Doctor Michael Ashworth, found that James had contracted a “common” infection that attacks the red blood cells in the body, causing death “fairly quickly”.

Deputy coroner Graham Danbury said that in a baby that young, it would not take long before such an infection became fatal.

He recorded a verdict of death from natural causes and passed on his deepest sympathies to a family representative who attended the inquest.