A MUM fears her baby daughter died after breathing in diesel fumes drifting in through an open hospital window.
Nine-month-old Annie-Jo Mountcastle was found unresponsive in her cot at home after spending three months in an incubator next to a construction site.
Her heartbroken mother believes fumes from the building work outside were at least partly to blame for her passing.
For five years Amy Dean has been battling to find the truth, and she has finally won her fight for an inquest into the tragedy.
A coroner has ordered a full investigation to discover if "the pollutants more than minimally contributed to the infant's death".
Tiny Annie-Jo and her twin sister Florence-Rose were born almost 12 weeks prematurely, weighing 2lb 1oz and 2lb 2oz in February 2017.
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A pre-inquest review heard their parents worry the girls were exposed to red diesel fumes through a window left open during their three-month hospital stay, where both were diagnosed with chronic lung conditions.
Amy battled to save her daughter – and is now desperately seeking answers.
A investigation was carried out into her claims by the local health board but NHS chiefs insisted "no harm" had been caused.
A report from Professor Sailesh Kotecha, head of child health at Cardiff University, and Professor Jonathan Grigg, of paediatric respiratory and environmental medicine at Queen Mary, University of London, said that the assessment of the building work should have been more robust and the review "vindicated the parents’ concerns that their twins were likely exposed to air pollution".
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But, it added, there is no evidence that it was the cause of Annie-Jo's death at home in Llanfair Talhaiarn, near Abergele, North Wales, on November 17.
A hearing at Ruthin County Hall was told the exact cause remains unascertained and that a full inquest will be held in due course.
Coroner John Gittins said: "The parents remain at the heart of my investigation.
"It is far, far too long for them to wait to try and get answers."
He said evidence indicated “significant exposure” to diesel fumes during the baby’s neonatal stage, but added there is “no objective evidence that this had long-term effects on the respiratory system”.
Amy and her partner said the twins’ "eyes were swollen" after they were born and they were diagnosed with chronic lung disease at 28 days old.
The family's legal representative Janine Wolstenholme said Annie-Jo had a compromised respiratory system when she was further exposed to the fumes.
She said an incubator into which she was placed may have "exacerbated her exposure to the fumes" rather than acted as a barrier.
DESPERATE FOR ANSWERS
She added: “One of the major concerns from Ms Mountcastle’s parents is the extent of that ingress of fumes.
“These girls were suffering with swellings and respiratory symptoms that might ordinarily look like colds, but the parents’ genuine belief is that the symptomatology related to exposure from pollution.
“From the parents’ point of view, it’s not just about whether fumes caused her death, it’s whether fumes led to additional clinical treatment which exacerbated an already respiratory compromised baby.”
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and BAM Construction – the company who built the £18million sub-regional neonatal intensive care centre at the Bodelwyddan hospital – had legal representatives at the hearing.
Both are expected to be represented when the full inquest is held later in the year.
Colin Moore, representing BAM Construction, said that there is “obviously a gap in terms of causation”, and that the firm contests the extent of the alleged exposure.
He said that Professors Kotecha and Grigg, when writing their report, “did not have the complete picture, but seemed willing to make assumptions and form conclusions based on those assumptions”.
Within the next eight weeks, the coroner has instructed BAM to provide a statement detailing the nature of the project, its timescale, what works were conducted, the specifics of the machinery used and the health and safety assessments undertaken.
Twin Florence-Rose is now a lively five-year-old – although her parents, who have since parted, say she was "always looking for her sister" when she was a baby.
After the hearing, Annie-Jo's father, David Mountcastle, said: "We're just waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel at this stage.
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"It's been six years now since Annie-Jo died and we're still waiting for answers.
"Hopefully we won't have to wait for too much longer now – we're both very grateful to the coroner for his work and we look forward to finally be able to this to bed when the inquest comes."
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