Campaign set up after death of baby ends

The scheme saw banners put up outside schools in the most deprived areas of Blackpool, posters displayed across the resort, parents targeted by adverts on Facebook, and messages displayed on buses warning against excess drinking and the effect it can have on children.

It was launched before Christmas following a serious case review carried out into the death of four-week-old Freddie Neil, who died after being wedged between a bed and wall at his home in central Blackpool.

The youngster’s parents were unable to tell investigators how he got there after spending the hours before his death – on Boxing Day 2014 – drinking with friends.

The campaign, launched by Blackpool’s Safeguarding Children Board, aimed to encourage parents to avoid the bottle when looking after children because ‘excessive drinking can affect concentration and reduce co-ordination, potentially leading to devastating consequences’.

The board’s chairman, David Sanders, said: “Parents are a role model to their children so when it comes to drinking, it really is a case of leading by example.

“People are going to want to go out and have a good time, and we hope they enjoy themselves but they need to be sensible and drink sensibly.

“Otherwise, they can end up ruining it for themselves and others around them.

“The same applies to those drinking at home. It can be difficult to keep track of how much you’re drinking at home but there are ways to stay smart including keeping track of the alcohol units you’re drinking and buying an alcohol measure.”

Neither of tragic Freddie’s parents faced criminal charges after his death, though prosecutors last year said they could reinvestigate – but only if new evidence came to light.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) spoke after Attorney General Jeremy Wright, the Government’s chief legal advisor, said it was up to them to press charges against Matthew Neil and his ex-partner Kim Smart-Neil.

It followed the release of the serious case review by the safeguarding board, which revealed the horror of what happened in the run up to little Freddie’s death.

It said his parents were woken up by their then-two-year-old son Alex at noon but Mr Neil, a DJ in the resort, who had turned down help for alcoholism weeks earlier, couldn’t find Freddie.

He was later found on the floor between a wall and bed in Alex’s room, but neither parent could explain how or why he came to be there.

Mr Neil, who worked in pubs and bars under the pseudonym Mat Black, said he disputed several of the report’s findings, and that he believes he moved Freddie from a Moses basket while in an epilepsy-triggered fugue state, which he told The Gazette sees him blackout and ‘wake up’ elsewhere suffering from amnesia.

He claimed he once had a fit at home and ‘woke up at the end of North Pier’.