A BABY allegedly murdered by his parents had no food or liquid in his stomach when he died, a jury has been told.

Home Office pathologist Dr Naomi Carter carried out a post mortem on the baby after he was found, on October 3 last year, buried in a shoe box in Heaton Cemetery.

A jury at Manchester Crown Court has previously heard how Catherine Davies had given birth to the child at her flat in Thornbank East, Bolton, on August 16 last year without having revealed she was pregnant to the health authorities or social services.

But the baby is said to have lived just four days, with the prosecution claiming he died from dehydration and lack of nutrition.

The court heard that Davies and her partner, Anthony Clark put the baby in a shoe box before burying him three days later.

When police found his body he had been in the ground for around five weeks. He was not wearing clothing or a nappy but had been wrapped in a blanket.

Dr Carter told the jury that the body had ‘significantly decomposed’ in the wet ground and so it was not possible for her to establish a definite cause of death. However, she added that she could find no abnormalities which might point to the child’s death or any bruising or fractures.

Davies had told police that the baby would not breast feed properly and that Clark had refused to buy baby formula.

“I think that dehydration must be a strong possibility,” said Dr Clark.

Earlier the court had heard Professor Alexander Heazell, professor of obstetrics at Manchester University, stress that deaths within seven days of birth of babies. who are at or near full term, are rare.

Just 0.02 percent of babies die within the first seven days.

A skeletal survey of the baby showed that Davies was at least 36 weeks pregnant when she gave birth to him.

Davies, aged 25 and Clark, 35, both deny murdering the baby. Clark admits concealing a birth but Davies denies the offence.

The trial continues.