Devon Rhys McLellam-SmythA DEVASTATED couple have told the Advertiser of their grief following the death of their baby son. Bella Smyth, and her partner Sean McLellam, lost their baby, Devon Rhys McLellam-Smyth, last Thursday and have not been able to face going home since.

Devon was born a month early at the Great Western Hospital on November 24, 2004.

He weighed just 3lbs, 11oz and the couple were told he only had a 30 per cent chance of surviving as he was very underweight and was suffering from jaundice.

But the couple say he was a fighter and was not going to let this beat him.

Bella said: "He was putting on weight so fast, faster than other babies.

"They were amazed with him.

"When he was born we knew he was a fighter."

Bella said Devon needed a feeding tube for no more than three days before he began to feed for himself.

And, after spending a week in a special care unit he was able to go home to his family.

Bella said: "He was only tiny. He was so beautiful."

Sean said: "Devon was a happy baby. He was just starting to smile."

But, at just three months old, Bella found Devon dead in his cot.

"He was here for three months," she said.

"He did really, really well,"

Since Devon's death the couple cannot bear to return to their home at Lilac Court, Pinehurst, where Bella has lived for the last four-and-a-half years.

She said: "There's no way on this earth I could go back to my house.

"How can I live there now?

"I can't even imagine myself walking in there again."

"I've lost my little smiley boy.

The couple, who have been together for 13 months, are now staying with Bella's sister, Tracey Smyth, 30, at Munro Close a small, two-bedroom house.

They are sleeping in Tracey's double bed with Bella's six-year-old son, Christian.

Tracey has had to move into her three-year-old daughter, Sophie's, room and share her single bed.

Bella's eldest son, William, 11, is staying with her mother in Hathaway Road, Stratton.

Bella said: "I cannot go back. My son died in my bedroom.

"I don't want to see that room again."

The couple are trying to find a new home.