A BABY died days after its premature birth induced by a car crash involving its 23-week pregnant mother, an inquest has heard.

Adam Hanson Finlayson died in Leighton Hospital on Christmas Eve following a week-long battle for survival.

Cheshire coroner Nicholas Rheinberg, sitting Crewe, heard how pregnant Lesley Hanson, of Middlewich Road, Winsford, was being driven by her sister Jane on a short journey to the shops on December 16, 2006.

Driving down Road One on the Winsford Industrial Estate, the Vauxhall Cavalier smashed into a Peugeot 405, whose driver Eric Williams was waiting to turn into the car park of the ‘Polar Park’ adventure playground, leaving Jane Hanson unconscious.

Giving evidence, Lesley Hanson said: “We were just talking, and the next thing there was a bang and we’d crashed. I was taken to hospital with internal bleeding, and was told they would have to do an emergency Caesarean.”

The position of the two cars at the point of impact was discussed at great length, with reconstruction expert PC Steve Binns, of Crewe’s Special Investigation Unit, concluding: “The Peugeot turned across the Cavalier’s path and the Cavalier was in its own lane upon impact.”

Mr Rheinberg, who pointed out that it was not for him to come to any conclusion of criminal liability but to determine cause of death, said: “A time came when it became clear that in order to save both mother and child an emergency Caesarian operation had to be undertaken.

“It soon became apparent that those treating Adam were fighting a losing battle, and he died as a result of a brain haemorrhage and lung disease.”

Mr Rheinberg recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.