A JURY has heard a Huddersfield mother's heartbreaking account of how she frantically tried to revive her son after discovering him dead in his bed.

The jury was sitting on the first day of an inquest into the death of 10-year-old Dominic Rodgers in Bradford yesterday.

Dominic died of carbon monoxide poisoning at his home in Spaines Road, Fartown, on February 12, 2004.

His mother, Stacey Rodgers, was at the inquest along with her father and siblings.

She had to leave the room when her harrowing statement was read out by coroner Roger Whittaker.

It described how the 27-year-old had enjoyed a normal night with her son on February 11.

She had given him his favourite meal - bacon, beans and potato waffles - before he went to his bedroom to watch TV and play games on his Playstation.

Stacey later took her son a drink and he said he could smell something strange.

Both mother and son had noticed the chemical smell several weeks previously, but it had disappeared quickly so they did not worry.

Although the deadly gas carbon monoxide has no taste or smell, it is produced by incomplete combustion of carbon-based fuels like gas - which can cause a smell.

Stacey last spoke to her son at 10.30pm, when she went to say goodnight. She expected to be greeted as usual by Dominic at 6.30am the next day, when she got up. But he was not awake.

She went into his room and saw him laid on his front, not moving.

She said: "I pulled the duvet back and touched him and he was stiff. He was frozen."

She called 999 and followed instructions from the operator, but Dominic did not respond and there was no pulse.

Stacey said: "I could only hear my heartbeat."

An ambulance arrived and paramedics pronounced Dominic dead at the scene.

Samples of Dominic's blood were sent to West Yorkshire Analytical Services.

Principal analyst Richard Sykes tested the samples and found carboxyhemoglobin, a chemical formed when carbon monoxide enters the blood.

He said Dominic had a 70% blood level of carboxyhemoglobin. A 50% level is fatal.

On the day of Dominic's death, the Health and Safety Executive and West Yorkshire Police launched an investigation.

They found carbon monoxide in fumes coming from a flue in the covered passage between Dominic's house, number 57, and 55.

The flue expelled fumes from the boiler at number 55.

Tony Mellor, a gas engineer and carbon monoxide expert with the HSE, said he saw fumes building up between two lintels in the passageway and were seeping upwards into Dominic's room.

Engineers turned on the boiler in number 55 and monitored the carbon monoxide levels in the passage and Dominic's room.

There should only have been 55 parts of carbon monoxide per million parts of gas.

After 35 minutes there were 1,200 ppm of carbon monoxide in the bedroom and 30,000ppm in the passage.

Mr Mellor said the gas meter at number 55 had a faulty regulator, which would mean too much gas was entering the boiler. He said it would not burn completely, producing carbon monoxide.

He said corrosion on some parts of the boiler would also have made it less effective at burning.

He said an air intake for the boiler was right next to the flue in the passageway, meaning fume-filled air was being sucked back into the boiler and pumped into the passage even more polluted.

Mr Mellor said the final factor was the calm weather, which allowed the fumes to build up in the passage.

Natalia Malykh, who moved into 55 Spaines Road in November, 2003, told the inquest she had smelt a "caustic" chemical smell coming from the boiler a week or so before Dominic's death.

Then the pilot light went out and she could not relight it. Mrs Malykh, who still rents the house with her young son, contacted landlord John Froud about the problem.

He sent gas engineer Shuakat Sattar to fix it. The boiler was working again, but Mrs Malykh said the smell remained when the boiler was lit.

On February 11 it was so strong that she turned the boiler off at 9pm and opened the front door to ventilate her house. Her son, who was playing outside, said the smell was strong in the passageway.

Mr Froud, of Highburton, said he ran a property rental business.

He said he bought the house in 2001 and had annual gas safety checks.

He said that before Mrs Malykh moved in Mr Sattar conducted a safety check. He fixed a faulty gas fire in the lounge and carried out other safety checks.

Mr Froud says Mr Sattar told him on the phone he would pass the property and would drop the certificate off at a later date.

But Mr Sattar's barrister, Lady Ruth Trippier, said he had told Mr Froud he was worried about the position of the flue in the passage.

Mr Froud said he did not remember this. He never received the safety certificate from Mr Sattar.

Asked by the coroner if he would have acted if he had been made aware of a safety issue with the boiler, he said: "Absolutely. I wouldn't rent out a property without a safety certificate."

The hearing continues.