Toddlers dies after exhausted mother 'left them in the shower and fell asleep for ten hours'

A baby and a toddler were found dead after their mother put them both in the shower and fell asleep, an inquest heard today.

Miranda Hebble, who was 22 at the time of the tragedy, left her sons Lochlan and Malachi Stevens in the steam-filled bathroom at their house in Perth, Australia, for ten hours after she passed out.

When she woke up she discovered ten-month-old Malachi floating in the shower on his side with bruises on his cheek while Lochlan, two, was lying on the floor with blood coming from his mouth.

He also had a scratch on his forehead and a mark on his stomach, the court was told. 

Miranda Hebble and her baby son Malachi: She was at court in Perth today for the inquest into the death of Malachi and his brother Lochlan, who both died after she apparently left them in the shower and fell asleep

Left to cope alone: The boys with their father, Christopher Stevens, who was working on a 'fly-in fly-out' basis, when the incident occurred. An inquest heard Ms Hebble had been left exhausted by the children

Ms Hebble had been caring for the boys at home alone while their father, Christopher Stevens, was working on a fly-in fly-out basis, the Australian Associated Press reported. 

Lochlan had smeared faeces from his nappy on floors, walls and the baby's cot, spurring her to put the boys in the shower to clean them up.

She left to fetch something, closing the bathroom door behind her, but fell asleep before she could return, the inquest was told.

When she returned to the bathroom, some ten hours later, both children were dead.

Ms Hebble told an emergency services operator: 'I passed out and the plug in the shower got plugged up ... and the shower filled up ... and they're not breathing. They're dead.'

Doctors pronounced both boys dead at 2am the following morning.