Baby was born on day of dad’s best friend’s funeral (From York Press)

Baby was born on day of dad’s best friend’s funeral

9:29am Saturday 16th February 2013 in News By Haydn Lewis, haydn.lewis@thepress.co.uk

A YOUNG soldier from North Yorkshire has described the birth of his baby on the same day he buried his best friend as a “sign”.

For 23-year-old Trooper Daniel Fallon-Douglass the arrival of his daughter, Indie-Lilah who was born three weeks prematurely, was a surprise he was not expecting on the day he helped carry the coffin at the funeral of Ryan Cumberland, aged 21.

He said: “Ryan was like my brother, we used to live next door to each other. I have known him since he was born and it was a huge shock when he died. I felt absolutely distraught at the funeral, but I think Ryan made the birth happen on that day to cheer everyone up.

“I was in the pub after the funeral when I got the call saying my girlfriend’s waters had broken in Sainsbury’s and she was having the baby.

“I couldn’t believe it and now I am over the moon to be a dad and I think Ryan is Indie’s guardian angel.”

The Press previously reported how hundreds of mourners packed into St Mary’s Parish Church in Tadcaster, about a fortnight after the death of Ryan, a former Tadcaster Grammar School pupil who had worked as a joiner in recent times at Thorp Arch.

North Yorkshire Police said officers had been called to a house in Hudson Way by Ryan’s family on the morning of January 22 where he was found dead.

Police are not treating his death as suspicious and a report will be prepared for the coroner.

Trooper Fallon-Douglass, of Station Road, Tadcaster, is currently on paternity leave from the army and spending his time with his girlfriend, Emma Richardson, 18, and their little girl, Indie-Lilah who weighed 6lb 2oz when she was born. He serves with the Royal Dragoons at Catterick Garrison.

He said: “I injured my knee in training and should have been out in Afghanistan now. It’s a good job I did injure it or I would not have been able to spend the last few months with Ryan or be here for the birth of my daughter.”