One in five child deaths in the London borough of Redbridge between 2008 and 2016 resulted from the child's parents being related, according to a new report.

Redbridge Council’s health and wellbeing board met this week to discuss the issue of child deaths resulting from consanguineous marriages.

Over the past eight years there were 124 instances of infant mortality in the borough, 19 per cent of which were attributed to the parents being second cousins or more closely related.

Nine per cent of all child deaths were among families with Pakistani origins. Gladys Xavier, chairwoman of the Child Death Overview Panel, told the board that educational programmes targeting Asian communities on the issue had been making an impact.