Cumulative pollution from London traffic may have led to girl's death

Ella Kissi-Debrah's fatal asthma attack coincided with a high air pollution episode

The hospital admissions of a nine-year-old girl who died after an acute asthma attack almost all took place during autumn and winter months when air pollution levels are at their highest, an inquest heard on Tuesday.

Prof Stephen Holgate, a respiratory disease expert, said Ella Kissi-Debrah had been living on a knife-edge, and it would take just a small change to create a dramatic collapse in the child.