'My daughter is very much alive'

However, her 12-week-old baby is alive and well.

Jacqueline Smyth, 36, of Whitbourne Avenue, Park North, could not believe what she was reading when she opened her post.

Her daughter, Sophie, was a month premature and has been in and out of hospital since she was born on September 12 because she has been suffering from fits. But she was at home asleep in her cot when the letter arrived on Mrs Smyth's doormat.

"As I read the letter I couldn't figure out if I was dreaming or whether the contents of the letter were actually true," said Mrs Smyth, who is unemployed. "I've had so many problems with Sophie being taken in and out of hospital that for a horrible moment when I was still half asleep I thought maybe something had happened to her.

"I didn't want to go back upstairs just in case the letter was right.

"When I did go upstairs to check on her, she was all right and she was just asleep in her cot."

Mrs Smyth says she has no idea why the CSA wrote to her.

The letter read: "I am sorry to hear that your daughter Sophie Nicole has died. May I offer our sincere sympathy."

She has since received a letter of apology. Mary Dowling, spokeswoman for the Child Support Agency, said: "I would like to say how sorry we are about this incident. We will be doing everything in our power to make sure this does not happen again.

"We realise it should never have happened in the first place."

Three days after Sophie was born, she started suffering from fits which doctors believe may be caused by epilepsy.

Sophie has spent limited time at home with her mother because doctors have been carrying out tests. She is already taking lots of medication and has to attend clinics.

But Mrs Smyth says her daughter has never been at death's door and the CSA did not have any legitimate reason to think Sophie was dead.

Mrs Smyth has three other daughters, aged between 10 and 18, who live with their father in Swindon.

Emma-Kate Lidbury