An "inspirational" 10-year-old Bolton girl with complex medical needs died “peacefully of natural causes” a corner has ruled.

Jodie Anne Settle, from Greenway, Hall i'th' Wood, was known as “loving and very pleasant child” and “always happy despite her difficulties”, which included a history of epilepsy and global development delay which left her wheelchair bound.

She was tragically declared dead on May 10, 2021 after being found unresponsive in bed with a duvet over her head, an inquest that concluded this week heard.

Reading evidence from mother Kate, coroner Peter Sigee said: “Over the course of her life she had shown great strength.”

He added: “She was an inspiration to everybody.”

The inquest, held at Bolton Coroners Court on Friday, heard that Jodie, who had a range of additional care needs, had been checked on regularly over the course of the night and that she had the ability to remove the duvet from her face herself.

She was found unresponsive by her mother, who’s husband then called paramedics.

She was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital and formally declared dead on May 10.

A postmortem examination carried out by Dr Robinson showed that she was “clearly a very well looked after child” and showed no evidence of injury or third-party involvement.

He said he “wouldn’t disagree that on the balance of probabilities this was a natural death.”

A report submitted by paediatric pathologist Dr Madeleine Newbold agreed with Dr Robinson’s findings.

DI David Sinclair, who was duty detective inspector for Bolton CID on the day Jodie was found unresponsive, said that following his investigation he too concluded that there were no safeguarding concerns.

He said: “My view is that she was a very well cared for and very well looked after child.”

Jodie’s GP Dr Minto Chowdhury also supplied evidence that had “multiple, severe health difficulties from an early age.”

As such, Mr Sigee concluded that Jodie died “peacefully of natural causes” brought on by undiagnosed neural developmental conditionals with epilepsy and scoliosis.

He closed by paying tribute to Jodie’s memory and extending his condolences to her family.