RICHARD Underhill never contemplated bringing up his newborn twins without their mother, but six months ago that nightmare turned into a reality.

Collapsed in a toilet at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital in October last year, his police officer wife Sarah Underhill, 37, suffered a rare and fatal pregnancy condition.

This week the 39-year-old police sergeant talked of his sorrow at having to bring up their twins, Hannah and James, on his own – and called for more research into the condition.

Doctors delivered the pair by emergency Caesarean section in a race against time after they found Mrs Underhill unconscious on the floor.

Mr Underhill, of Didcot, said: “The twins will lose out because there is no way I can do for them what Sarah would have done.

“She was looking forward to cuddling them and making sure they grew up to be nicely balanced kids.

“She’d got plans for their education. She had thought it all through until they were about 18. All of a sudden I’ve had to take this over.

“It’s difficult because Sarah was a lot more maternal than I am paternal.

“She wanted to scrimp and save and put them through some sort of independent school.

“I’m going to do what I can for them to fulfil her wishes.”

Last month, at an inquest into her death, experts told Oxfordshire coroner Nich-olas Gardiner that Amniotic Fluid Embolism (AFE) – the condition which killed Mrs Underhill – was undiagnosable and untreatable. Mr Gardiner recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.

Mr Underhill called for urgent research into the condition and asked why staffing levels at the hospital were reduced at weekends.He also thanked family members and the police for their support in helping him cope with the tragedy.

Mr Underhill said: “It has got easier. As time goes on you just learn to think more about the future and less about the past.

“I will tell them what happened to their mum, I’m not a fan of gentle fibs to soften the blow. They will start to notice that their mum is not here. I want them to know an awful lot about her.

“James looks very much like Sarah. They both have her nose and my ears. I wanted them both to look like her.”

Elaine Strachan-Hall, director of nursing and clinical leadership at the John Radcliffe, said: “We would welcome more research into AFE because it’s poorly understood.”

She said there were not enough doctors in the country to have the same levels of staffing in hospitals at weekends.