Two young girls were found cuddling their dead dad's body after being left for more than 12 hours alone with him - with school bosses failing to call anyone else to check on their whereabouts.

Helen Daykin's girls were left with the body of their father after teachers only tried his number when one of the children didn't arrive for school.

Her husband, Chris, died unexpectedly from heart failure just over a year ago - and his daughters were discovered cuddling him in bed.

He looked after the kids, Pearl and Iris, while Helen often traveled for work.

On the morning after he died his four and two year old girls tried to wake him, and even put indigestion pills in his mouth in an effort to rouse him.

Pearl, the older child, had just started school a few weeks earlier. Her school called Chris, but didn't ring Helen.

When Helen called her husband that morning she assumed he was busy, and it was not until that evening she was told he had died as she traveled home.

Helen told the BBC: "There's no reason why this couldn't happen again.

"How the children didn't hurt themselves I've no idea.

"They spent the whole day upstairs, they didn't come down at all. They were hungry. They played with all my shoes and makeup, but they didn't venture further in the house.

"Pearl can tell me every single detail and relives it often. I can't leave the room without her shouting for me or wanting to be with me."

Helen now wants schools to contact second and third numbers if children don't arrive in the morning.

Her mother had driven over to the family house in Halifax but couldn't open the door, and noticed the windows were dark and milk had been left out.

Police broke down the door and found the heartbreaking scene in an upstairs bedroom.

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