The devastated parents of a baby boy who died of sudden infant death syndrome today spoke of their loss.

Heart-broken Jason Woodfield and Marie Barreto discovered their only child, Joshua, had stopped breathing after they put him in his cot for the night.

He was rushed to hospital by paramedics but doctors were unable to save him and he died four days before his first birthday.

Coroner Trevor Kirkman, who oversaw an inquest into Joshua's death, said the couple, from Mostyn Avenue, Syston, had suffered "every parent's worst nightmare".

After the hearing at Loughborough Coroner's Court, Marie, 33, said: "The coroner was right. It is a nightmare.

"Joshua was a lively, happy little boy who was loved by us and all other members of our family but just like that he was taken away.

"Parents still don't know enough about Sids (sudden infant death syndrome). We have asked ourselves whether we could have done anything different."

Around 300 babies die a year in the UK from cot death and experts are unable to say what causes it.

Marie said: "We put him to bed at 8.40pm, we made sure he was on his back, that he was not wearing too many clothes.

"We checked on him and he seemed fine but at about midnight we found him on his front and he wasn't breathing. It was terrible.

Window cleaner Jason, 38, said he and Marie, who are engaged, had struggled to come to terms with the loss.

He said : "We have the photos and we have the memories but it is hard to accept Joshua has gone. He laughed for the first time when he was just five weeks old and carried on and on. We all miss him so much."

The inquest heard Joshua died on May 25. Paediatric pathologist Dr Charles Padfield said nothing untoward, or suspicious had been found in the post-mortem examination.

He said Joshua was big for his age and "thriving" and that no blame could be attached to the parents.

"He was a very well-cared-for little boy. The fact that he had been a bit mardy was because he was teething and had a bowel infection at the time,

"He is a little bit older than you would normally expect for Sids but lesions in his larynx are typically seen in Sids."

Joshua had a high level of foetal haemoglobin – another sign of Sids.

He said children went through vulnerable periods (for Sids) and needed a 'stresser' to bring it on. In this case, it was the entero-virus.

Recording a verdict of a natural death caused by Sids, Mr Kirkman said: "This must be every parent's worst nightmare. Joshua was a baby who was extremely well cared-for and in good health. He was clearly going to be a bright young lad."

Leave tributes to Joshua at the Lasting Tribute website