A SIX-WEEK-OLD baby died from cot death, an inquest heard.

Martin Doran died at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital shortly after his mother found him unresponsive in her bed.

A pathologist’s report attributed the death to “sudden unexplained death in infancy”, otherwise known as cot death.

Pathologist Colene Bowker said a contributory cause was a “possible viral upper respiratory tract infection”.

The inquest at Oxford’s Old County Hall yesterday heard Martin had suffered a minor cold about 10 days before his death.

The child’s mother, Anne Doran, said Martin had been put to sleep on his back in a cot next to her and her husband’s bed at their home at The Paddocks in Weald Street, Bampton, between 1am and 2am on November 30.

In a statement she said she brought Martin into her bed to feed at some stage during the night, adding: “I must have dozed off. The next thing I remember was him in the double bed next to me on his side.”

Mrs Doran said Martin, whom she described as “a happy child who loved his cuddles”, was blue and unresponsive.

Coroner Darren Salter recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.