Two-month-old baby boy died after parents left him to sleep in garden shed
Officials realised something was wrong when his cot was found in the shed
Featured Image Credit: Svitlana Makarova / Alamy Stock Photo
Emma Guinness
A two-month-old boy lost his life after he was put to sleep in a garden shed during lockdown.
News of the anonymous June 2020 death was revealed at a private family court hearing in Liverpool by Judge Steven Parker.
There, it was explained that the child's parents had put the baby to sleep in an inappropriate location after they argued about 'sleep and intimacy' deprivation.
The couple had got into an argument about their home being 'overcrowded' following the baby's birth.
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The judge said: "In haste or recklessly, the carrycot was placed by mother and/or father on an inappropriate and insecure cardboard box in the shed.
"The cot tipped head first off the upper surface of the box which caused (the baby) to move on his left side/shoulder and his face was pressed up against the carrycot side with his head in an unnatural and unusual position.
"This compromised his breathing or ventilation and led to his death from hypoxia and hypercarbia."
While the boy's parents initially claimed they had found him lifeless in his cot, the judge ruled that they had 'colluded to provide a false account' of what happened.
The parents called the emergency services, but it was too late to save him.
After his death, they said it was completely unexplained.
Authorities realised that something was amiss when the baby was taken to hospital and his cot was discovered 'in the garden shed.'
The judge said: "At the time (he) died there was tension in the mother and father's relationship caused by living... in overcrowded circumstances and during lockdown, lack of sleep and intimacy and poor mental health on the father's behalf.
"These matters led to poor communication and arguments between the mother and father, and reached the point where parents were not coping well and needed a break from caring for (the baby)."
He explained that the parents had previously left the child on a floor, or on his own, so that he could 'cry and self-soothe.'
It was concluded that the baby died when his parents 'failed to adequately supervise' him.
The judge did not provide any identifying details about the family.
He did, however, reveal that they lived in a bungalow and claimed they did not have enough support with their child.
They said they had no visits from a health worker or midwife after their son's birth.
The baby's death was investigated because 'there was no identified criminality or neglect' and a post-mortem found 'no sign of injury'.