It is a nightmare every expectant parent prays will never happen to them.

Two years after the botched birth of her first child, Clare Brown is still traumatised by the death of her brain-damaged baby.

Months of planning for a future as a family disappeared in moments as Clare and her husband Leigh were faced with the decision to turn off their tiny son's life-support machine.

Despite the joy at the birth of their second child, Aaron, in February, the couple are still fighting for compensation for Curtis who died after just six hours at the Conquest Hospital, Hastings.

But it was not until three months later that the truth behind his death was revealed.

An independent report blamed a bungled delivery by a junior doctor and three midwives.

It said Curtis, who was born in November, 1998, had been starved of oxygen in the womb, despite showing clear signs of distress for three hours, and his mother did not receive treatment which could have saved his life.

Even when Clare asked for medical assistance after suffering agonising pain she was not given the correct care.

Speaking at her home in Angela Close, Bexhill, Clare told how she and Leigh are coping as a family at last as well as fighting for Curtis.

On Saturday they celebrated Aaron's first six months of life.

Clare said: "It was a nice occasion but even then I felt a tinge of sadness. I kept looking at my friends' children and thinking Curtis would have been the same age."

Clare is now hoping to bring the agonising chapter following her son's death to a close.

Under current law, the Browns are entitled to £7,500 in compensation. The hospital has offered £10,000 but the family's lawyers will push for £20,000.

Clare, 31, says she and Leigh have suffered extra turmoil because of the delay in discovering the truth.

"I feel had the hospital been honest from the start we could have gone away and dealt with it."

She claims she was not given all the facts either at the time of Curtis's birth or when she was called to make the decision to switch off his life support machine.

She said: "When I was expected to make a life or death decision about our son, they did not tell us all the facts. We thought Curtis dying was an act of God but it wasn't."

The General Medical Council is currently looking into the episode.

Meanwhile, Clare and Leigh have found happiness with their second son, who was born at Eastbourne District General Hospital. One day they will tell Aaron about his brother.

Clare said: "I have thought about what I will tell him but it won't be easy. Aaron has helped heal a lot of the wounds but we can never forget.

"It's not about the money, that will go in a trust fund for Aaron. There is no compensation for what happened to us.

"At the end of the day it will never go away."

A spokesman for Hastings and Rother NHS Trust said: "We express our deepest sympathy to the parents and family of baby Curtis.

"The decision to turn Curtis's ventilator off was made by senior clinical staff in conjunction with his parents. The decision was made on clinical grounds following the full assessment of Curtis's condition.

Negotiations between the Brown family's solicitors and the trust are continuing.