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A tiny baby who died after being exposed to heroin and cocaine was found with dirt under her fingernails and in her armpits when she was rushed to hospital, an inquest has heard. Nurses raised concerns about 10-week-old Phoebe-Rose Douglas' unkempt and smelly condition after she was taken to the Royal Stoke University Hospital.

Paramedics had been called to an address on Meaford Drive in Blurton on the morning of October 25, 2019, after reports the infant was in cardiac arrest. She was transferred to the hospital's paediatric intensive care unit but died four days later on October 29.

A urine sample taken on the day she died tested positive for cocaine, while hair samples showed she had been exposed to cocaine, heroin and cannabis, the inquest was told.

Both parents, Rachel Bourne and John Douglas, later admitted child cruelty at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court in 2024. Bourne was jailed for 31 months while Douglas received a 10-month sentence, suspended for two years.

The inquest into Phoebe-Rose's death is taking place this week at Swann House in Stoke.

It heard she was born in Halifax in August 2019, where her father lived, before returning to Stoke-on-Trent a month later with her mother, reported Stoke-on-Trent Live.

The inquest was told both parents were drug users and a number of referrals had been made to social services before Phoebe-Rose was born, including concerns over their housing conditions in July 2019.

The family were later evicted from the property, where drug paraphernalia was found.

Phoebe-Rose missed her first routine immunisations and developmental check, which are usually carried out at six to eight weeks old.

On the morning of October 25 her mother woke at around 5am, picked her up and found her floppy. West Midlands Ambulance Service was called.

She was resuscitated but scans at hospital showed she had suffered severe brain damage due to lack of oxygen. Life support was withdrawn on October 29.

Paediatrician Dr Deborah Stalker told the inquest that notes from Phoebe-Rose's birth showed no signs of neonatal abstinence syndrome, but she had been a struggle to feed.

There was also evidence that feeding bottles had not been sterilised.

While in hospital in October 2019, "she was unkempt and unclean", Dr Stalker said. "She was smelly and she had dirty fingernails and feet and creases under arms and neck."

Consultant paediatric and perinatal pathologist Dr Roger Malcolmson said a post-mortem found Phoebe-Rose was relatively small, with no significant external injuries suggesting physical abuse.

Her brain was swollen, consistent with hypoxia. He identified maternal drug use and smoking as the biggest risk factor for her death.