Fit and healthy baby boy tragically died after swallowing a 10p coin, inquest hears

Little Hayden David Lewis Matthews died suddenly at just 14 months after being rushed into hospital

An inquest has heard that a “fit and healthy” baby boy tragically died after swallowing a 10p coin.

Little Hayden David Lewis Matthews died suddenly at just 14 months after being rushed into hospital. The tot lived between Truro and Redruth with his separated parents, Kirsty Davies and David Matthews.

At the time of his death in 2023, Hayden was in the care of his father and had been with his dad for around six weeks prior.

The inquest heard how Mr Matthews had taken Hayden to collect his new parter and her son and bring them to the hospital as her son had injured his foot. As the Mirror reports, Hayden was alert for the first 20 minutes of the journey before falling quiet, with his father thinking he had fallen asleep.

Shortly after arriving to the hospital, a nurse notice Hayden was looking unwell in his car seat while they were in the waiting room. The medic took him into a side room and rang the emergency buzzer. Emergency staff rushed in and despite their best efforts he died later that evening at Royal Cornwall Hospital.

A post-mortem carried out by a forensic pathologist following his death found that Hayden had no sings of physical or psychological illnesses or concerns to explain his death. However during the examination a foreign object was found inside his oesophagus. This was later found to be a 10p coin.

The coin was discoloured sparking fears it had been stuck there for some time. It was deemed unlikely it would have been swallowed or inhaled recently, Cornwall Live reported.

Police launched a probe into the tots death and officers concluded there was nothing suspicious

Senior coroner for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Andre Cox, as part of his conclusion into the death, said everything he would expect a responsible parent to do had been done for Hayden - including visits to the doctor and treatment. He added if the baby died as a result of swallowing a coin he would expect perforation of the oesophagus and an infection, which did not occur.

He said: “While the finger of suspicion points at the 10p coin, actually what we would expect to be there if the death had resulted from the 10p coin is not there. There isn't the perforation to lead to the infection and sepsis. Also, we have absolutely no idea when or where or how the coin has got where it was found."

He said it appeared to be a death from an unascertained cause and recorded an open conclusion into the death.