Our data clearly show that SIDS is now largely confined to deprived families, and if we exclude deaths on sofas, the numbers of babies dying whilst in bed with their parents has fallen by 50 percent over the past 20 years.

These deaths are largely avoidable and preventable.

Although the reasons for the rise in deaths when a parent sleeps with their infant on a sofa are unclear, we strongly recommend that parents avoid this sleeping environment.

Children in the local national school are deprived of what most others take for granted, and the deficient service puts lives at risk. I know about one elderly man who had to wait all night for a visit from the local doctor because his phone went dead during an emergency call.

The sofa was lumpy enough to have had a body sewed into it; stuffing spilled out of the arms where the victim had tried to escape.

The proudest thing is that there were no deaths or injuries.