Premature twin girls die and mother in coma after paramedics locked out of tower block flat

Jocelyn Bennett was 32 weeks into her pregnancy when suffering severe pains

Jocelyn Bennett remains in a coma

Premature twins have died and their mother is in a coma after paramedics were blocked from getting inside a tower block because the door was locked.

Jocelyn Bennett was 32 weeks into her pregnancy when she started suffering severe pains at around 5.30am last Wednesday and called emergency services from her home at Pleck House, Druids Heath in south Birmingham.

The family say the ambulance crews could not get an answer from the 13-floor tower block's intercom system and had to phone police at 6am, before the twin girls - christened Melody and Rose - were delivered in hospital by C-section.

They died at Birmingham's Women's Hospital yesterday from brain damage as a result of lack of oxygen.

Ms Bennett, 27, remains comatose after suffering a placental abruption that caused the severe loss of two litres of blood.

Her partner Kevin Clarke was away with their three-year-old son and the time and they were both so excited to give birth to twins that they named them before they were born, her father Joe Bennett said to the BBC.

He added: "Everyone's hearts have been ripped out.

"We've been gasping for hope all the time, but today was the last day."

He said Ms Bennett remained in a coma and had received dialysis due to problems with her kidneys, but the family was hopeful she would recover.

Mr Bennett praised emergency services for their efforts to reach his daughter but questioned whether problems of access contributed to the tragedy.

West Midlands Ambulance Service confirmed it received a call to Pleck House at 5.39am on 29 October and a paramedic was first on the scene at 5.51am.

Two ambulance crews arrived outside at 5.58am and 6.01am respectively and they tried contacting other residents in the block but were met with no answer, the emergency medical service said.

Police were called at 6.03am as medics had difficulty accessing the building and officers arrived on the scene at 6.10am and they gained entry soon after. The control room contacted Ms Bennett's parents and partner by phone.

"If you can't get into these buildings how can emergency services save anybody?" Mr Bennett said.

"There are vulnerable people living in that building and the council has a duty of care for them. A better system needs to be in place," he added.

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said: "Our thoughts are with the family at this difficult time.

"We have systems to provide emergency access to our blocks for the emergency services and we are investigating what happened in this instance."