THE death of a young child might have been avoided if care agencies had monitored him and his mother more closely, an inquiry has found.

Declan Hainey's body was found in his cot at his home in Paisley, Renfrewshire, in March 2010 when he would have been 23 months old.

His mother, Kimberley Hainey, was found guilty of his murder in 2011 after a trial but the conviction was quashed by appeal court judges last year.

A fatal accident inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the child's death was held at Paisley Sheriff Court over 36 days between May and July this year.

In a written determination, Sheriff Ruth Anderson said "on a balance of probabilities, neglect was a contributory factor" and stated that defects in the system contributed to his death.

She said the exact date and cause of death is unknown but added that "prolonged neglect" had been "at least a contributory factor".

She set out a number of factors where the death might have been avoided.

Sheriff Anderson stated that if medical information relating to Declan's mother's alcohol and drug problems had been passed to all social work and health staff with responsibility for the youngster, the case might have been handled differently.

The inquiry also found that if the agencies involved in the information-gathering process before and after Declan was born had obtained all the information which was available to them and assessed the risk factors, it would have resulted in continued monitoring over a longer period.

She said health visitors should have been provided with all information available, which would have resulted in the case being categorised as one needing "intensive" support.

In her written determination, the sheriff said: "There was no system in place whereby one of the agencies responsible for Declan's well-being was in overall charge and there was no system whereby one named individual was responsible for co-ordinating all available information.

The sheriff made four recommendations, including that when a notification of concern relating to an "unseen child" is made it should be treated with the "utmost priority".

In her conclusion, she acknowledged that management and staff have made changes to tighten procedures since Declan's death.

Agencies responsible for child protection in Renfrewshire said they fully accept the inquiry's findings and pledged to act on all the recommendations.

Andrew Lowe, independent chair of Renfrewshire child protection committee, said: "Much has been done in the five years since Declan's death to strengthen child protection services in Renfrewshire. "