A CORONER has ruled that two mothers who died within 24 hours of each other after giving birth at the same Hampshire hospital died of natural causes.

Mid-Hampshire coroner Grahame Short recorded the verdicts in the cases of teachers Jasmine Pickett, 29, and Amy Kimmance, 39, who both gave birth at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester on December 21, 2007.

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But after they were both discharged, Mrs Kimmance, who gave birth to a girl, Tessa, died on December 23 and Mrs Pickett, of Colden Common, who gave birth to a boy, Christopher, died on December 24.

Mrs Kimmance developed fatal toxic shock syndrome as a result of a group A streptococcal infection and Mrs Pickett died from a sudden onset of severe pneumonia, likely to have been caused by a group A streptococcal infection.

Mr Short said the infection which killed Mrs Kimmance was unlikely to have been directly caught from a member of staff at the hospital but could have been indirectly caught from another patient, a visitor, a member of her family or someone in the local community.

He added that the source of the infection which killed Mrs Pickett was again unlikely to have been a member of staff but most likely to have come indirectly from another patient or visitor to the maternity unit.