TWO East Lancashire tots could have been killed when their parents accidentally rolled on top of them in bed, inquests heard.

Yesterday two inquests were told how two-months-old Josh Allison and two-weeks-old Katelynn Roe-Bell died in their parents' beds.

In both cases Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Coroner Michael Singleton said "over laying", where a parent rolls on to a sleeping infant asphyxiating them, could not be ruled out.

Mr Singleton ruled open verdicts for both deaths after hearing that a cause of death could not be ascertained in either post mortem examination.

Although there was no evidence that confirmed both children had been accidentally asphyxiated the inquest could not rule it out.

At 10.30pm on May 2 Michael Bell was preparing his baby daughter for bed at a house in Savoy Street, Accrington.

Mr Bell said Katelynn had slept with him and mother Laura Roe on previous occasions and had once spent the night in a car seat.

On that night Mr Bell said he and Miss Roe fell asleep with their daughter between them. At 3.30am he woke to find Katelynn not breathing. She later died in hospital.

Mr Singleton said that in Katelynn's case there had been two possible causes of death, natural causes or accidental asphyxiation.

"There is no evidence before me that enables me me to say one is far more likely than the other. As a consequence I must return an open verdict.

"What I would not wish to do is give the impression that either or both of the parents have the guilt in believing they had been responsible for their daughter's death."

In the case of Josh Allison the inquest at Blackburn town hall heard how there were a number of features which gave Mr Singleton, "cause for concern".

Doctors told how Josh had a broken rib, raised sodium levels and bleeding in the eyes. No explanation for the rib injury could be given by Josh's parents, Katie Holt and Scott Allison. The inquest was told that on March 3, 2003, Miss Holt took her son to bed at 11.30pm.

She said she fell asleep with the baby in the crook of her arm at her Cornelian Street home in Blackburn. At 6.30am the following day she woke to find her baby son on top of a duvet, with his head facing down.

Miss Holt said she ran down the street to her mother's house where an ambulance was called.

Despite the best efforts of paramedics Josh died at Blackburn Royal Infirmary.

Dr Naomi Carter, a Home Office pathologist, said blood in Josh's lungs led her to believe that accidental over laying was a possibility.

Mr Singleton said that on the balance of probabilities and because of the "worrying features" he could not reach a verdict of accidental death or natural causes.

He did, however, confirm the possibility Josh had been unlawfully killed had been dismissed at an early stage of his inquiry.

Mr Singleton said: "A possibility is that Josh Allison may have been subjected to over laying during the course of the evening.

"Experts cannot exclude that and they cannot say there was definite evidence that occurred."