Parents of quadruplets have told of their heartbreak after one of their baby sons died.

McCartney, Lennon and Harrison Cooper

Dave and Michelle Cooper described how they made the agonising decision to turn off the life support machine of their three-month-old son George.

The baby was just 69 days old when he died after several operations to try and save him from a bowel infection.

Mrs Cooper, 28, gave birth prematurely to healthy quadruplets George, McCartney, Lennon and Harrison - the last three named after The Beatles - on September 9.

But a month later, on their first wedding anniversary, Mr and Mrs Cooper, of Hatfield Road, Witham, found out little George had necrotising enterocolitis - an infection which can kill the intestine.

George Cooper - sadly missed

Mr Cooper said: "It wasn't easy at all. It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make in my life."

Mrs Cooper did not want to make the decision. "He chose himself to stop breathing on the ventilator. He had enough."

Published Monday, March 11, 2002