A two-year-old boy ‘couldn’t breathe’ through his nose and had a ‘continuous cough’ during his final few days in a mouldy flat, an inquest has heard.

Awaab Ishak died a week after his second birthday after living in a ‘disgusting’ flat.

Images of mould and damp in the property were revealed during an inquest at Rochdale Coroners Court.

Awaab’s father had battled with the conditions since 2017 – more than three years before his son’s death in December 2020.

The court heard the medical cause of the toddler’s death was linked to the conditions at their social flat.

But conditions at the estate, owned and managed by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), did not pass the threshold for criminal charges.

Awaab’s father, Faisal Abdullah, had travelled to the UK as an asylum seeker from Sudan in July 2015, the inquest heard.

He lived in a number of properties before moving into a new flat in August 2016 before his wife Aisha Amin joined him in February 2018.

Mr Abdullah first noticed black dots of mould in his kitchen from October 2017, the court heard.

He took a photo and showed staff at RBH’s housing office, who told him: ‘You would have to paint over it.’

Asked if he was ever told to buy specialist anti-mould paint, Mr Abdullah said ‘no’, and told the court he just painted over the affected area until it ‘looked OK’.

The mould and damp gradually worsened and Mr Abdullah eventually applied for a new home in May 2019, five months after the premature birth of Awaab.

He told the court: ‘Every week, two weeks, I spoke to them about it, “when am I going to move from this house?”‘

The court heard Mr Abdullah sent a series of emails to different addresses at RBH about damp and mould, and requested the chance to move.

An email read: ‘Kitchen… damp is really bad… I have a kid and my wife, she pregnant. I need further movement please.’

Young Awaab soon struggled with a blocked nose and coughing on several occasions.

He was prescribed an inhaler in summer 2020, around the same time he began suffering from a continuous cough.

On December 16, 2020, Awaab started suffering from a sore throat and on December 19 was taken to an urgent care centre with a ‘rattling noise’ in his throat and breathing difficulties.

On December 20, he was treated for croup but was discharged with ‘tablets and inhaler and spray’.

Ms Amin said her son’s condition did not improve.

‘We didn’t sleep on December 20,’ she said. ‘Awaab’s chest was worse than before. Awaab managed to sleep for an hour then wake up, he was not well.’

On December 21, he was transferred to Royal Oldham Hospital where, despite doctors’ best efforts, Awaab died 30 minutes after arriving.

Greater Manchester Police raised concerns about the mould seen in the family home, and an environmental survey was carried out at the property by Rochdale Council on December 23, 2020.

In June 2022 Detective Constable Chris Davies spoke to residents and saw the mould himself.

But he told the court the evidence gathered would not meet the threshold for criminal charges being made against RBH on the grounds of gross negligence manslaughter or corporate manslaughter. 

Richard Blakeway, housing ombudsman for England, told the court about the findings of a report released last October calling on social landlords to take a more proactive approach to tackling damp and mould – and suggested it could be ‘too simplistic’ to blame residents for the issue.

He said: ‘Damp and mould is, if you like, a symptom and the causes can be structural or non-structural.’

‘The report acknowledges there may be factors like fuel poverty, age and design of homes, which may make the risk of damp and mould greater. Our report was to say that those are known risks and therefore it’s important for them to think about their approach to make sure they address those known challenges.’

Mr Blakeway suggested there was scope for legislation to be strengthened regarding control of damp and mould, similarly to how it has been on legionella and gas safety.

Awaab’s inquest is expected to last for nine days. Proceedings continue.

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