THE officer in charge of the investigation into the death of Nico Maynard told the inquest how that there had been a thorough and extensive inquiry.

Asked by coroner Keith Wiseman whether there had been a high degree of suspicion surrounding the parents, Det Insp Linda Howard said: “Yes there was indeed sir, and we obviously looked at the history of the parents and the previous incident as well.”

But the inquest was told how, in the end, neither parent was charged with any offence in connection with either child.

A CPS spokesperson said: “After careful consideration of all the medical evidence in this case from a number of experts and a meeting with the pathologist a cause of death attributable to any individual could not be established to the standard to give a realistic prospect of conviction as required by the Code for Crown Prosecutors.”

The Daily Echo also asked why no charges relating to the children’s care were ever brought.

The spokesperson added: “We carefully considered all the available evidence in this case submitted to us by Hampshire Constabulary and none of that evidence showed that the children had been the subject of wilful neglect and without such evidence we were not in a position to consider any charges of neglect.”