A CWMBRAN couple who lost their first baby to cot death a year ago are again pleading with housing chiefs to find them a new home.

Distraught parents Daniel Charles, 18, and Leanne Stock, 19, lost their one-month-old baby, Ieuan, last July.

As the Argus revealed at the time, the couple were living in a filthy block of flats in Oaksford, Coed Eva, Cwmbran, which had rubbish littering the stairs.

They had been burgled four times, had furniture destroyed and were regularly woken up in the early hours by drunks.

Following their son's death, Torfaen council agreed to move them into a one-bedroom flat in Granston Square, in Fairwater, Cwmbran.

But a year on the pair say their new home is worse than Oaksford - and the squalor is making their new baby, five-week-old Danielle, ill.

Mr Charles, a production operator at Trico, in Pontypool, said: "The drains are blocked and the ground outside the flats is flooded with human waste. We can't open the windows because of the smell.

"After losing Ieuan last year we are trying to make sure everything goes right for Danielle and that she doesn't get ill, but we can't.

"She's been sick a lot recently and Leanne and myself have suffered diarrhoea and sickness. We are worried that it could be because of the drains."

Torfaen council have now cleared all the blocked drains at the flats, but the couple are still desperate to move out.

Mr Charles said: "We are at our wits' end. We've both just had enough. "The council promised to move us somewhere better last year, but this is worse. "The flat was in a state when we moved in, so we cleaned up, and they offered us a new kitchen for doing it. They haven't done anything about it.

"With the anniversary of Ieuan's death coming up it is even more upsetting for us. Why can't they give us somewhere decent to live?"

A spokesman for Torfaen council said the authority was doing everything it could to help the pair.

"Before new tenants move into a property it is inspected to make sure everything is in working order," he said.

"We have recently replaced one of the kitchen units in this flat. "Wessex Water and the council's drainage workers were contacted on Wednesday, as soon as we were told about the blocked drain, and fixed it."

PICTURED: The couple with new baby Danielle.