Jack Jarvis' family said they lived a nightmare as they waited 12 months before an inquest into his death was closed

The family of Jack Jarvis said they lived a nightmare as they waited 12 months before an inquest into his death was closed.

Winchester Coroner’s Court heard that a shortage of pathologists was one of the reasons which led to the delay.

But baby Jack’s family said they hope other grieving families who will find themselves in a similar situation will not have to wait “so long”.

At the inquest held in Winchester last month the court heard how baby Jack stopped breathing on December 15, 2017 while he was on his father’s chest at their home in Bishopstoke.

When his father Mathew Jarvis realised baby Jack was not breathing, he resuscitated him, and called the ambulance.

But the court was told baby Jack’s brain was damaged due to the lack of oxygen and he died at Southampton General Hospital four days later.

Post-mortem examinations found that Jack was healthy, he did not suffer from any trauma or disease and the causes that led to his death remain unexplained.

Senior coroner Grahame Short reached an open verdict and said Jack died in circumstances which could not be determined.

But baby’s Jack grandmother Elaine Jarvis said the entire family was put through hell and they are now calling for action to be taken to ensure grieving families will not have endure such a lengthy wait to receive the results of post-mortem examinations.

She said baby Jack’s father, a 26-year-old cleaner, was arrested on December 21,2017 and released the next day without charge pending the results of the post mortem examination, which was expected to be completed within three months.

This, Elaine explained, meant that Mr Jarvis had to leave the house where he was living with 26-year-old wife Chloe, baby Jack’s mother, and could only spend time with his two other children if supervised.

When the case was reviewed three months after baby Jack’s death, they were hoping for the results of the post-mortem examination to be available, Elaine said.

“But they were not there,” she said. “So at that point Mathew was allowed to return home but only with supervised access. He was allowed back in the house but not allowed with the children on his own, that was lifted on October 1, when we got the provisional post-mortem results and at that point the police closed the case. But that was after 10 months.”

The 50-year-old associate practitioner added: “We have been put through hell. It was a living hell. The first three months innocent parents were unable to grieve together the loss of their child. I could see the torture and torment they were going through and there was nothing I could do about it. It was just heartbreaking. The life of an entire family was put on hold.

“Jack was just adorable. He had the most amazing smile.”

Elaine said now her family hopes that some action will be taken to ensure that post-mortem examinations will not make grieving families wait for “too long”.

“I’d like pathologists to be given a time frame, even if it is three months because at least as a family you know that at the end of the three months you should have some sort of answers. I think that three months is a fair time scale because we understand this things don’t happen overnight,”she said.

“I would like to meet with these people. I think sometimes they don’t see the human side of it. They work in laboratories and don’t see the effect this has. I’m not saying they don’t know but do they?”she added.

Elaine raised the same questions during the inquest, when pathologist Russell Delaney said: “I don’t disagree that the process took longer than is desirable. It has been done as quickly as it could be done under that specific circumstances. When there are a lot of cases they cannot all be prioritised at once. The process has to be thorough so there are not unanswered questions and that can take a considerable amount of time.”

During the inquest, PC Kevin Scullion said the force also requests numerous experts to conduct investigations before confirming that no-one is responsible for people’s death.

A spokesman for the Home Office said there are four consultant Home Office forensic pathologists who provide cover for Hampshire and said this is “an appropriate number given the current caseload”.

He added: “Home Office registered forensic pathologists are not employed or contracted by the Home Office and receive their instructions direct from the police or coroner’s office. In cases where there is a requirement for specialist expertise, authorities may approach specialist pathologists, who carry out their work in a private capacity.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said medical examiners will be introduced from April 2019, meaning that all patients deaths will be individually scrutinised.