A baby boy living in “overcrowded circumstances” during the first COVID lockdown died after he was put to sleep in a shed, a family court judge has concluded.
Judge Steven Parker ruled that the baby, who was around two months old at the time of his death, had been left “unsupervised” in his carrycot on an unsecured cardboard box in an outhouse.
The judge said the cot “tipped head first” off the box, causing the baby’s face to become “pressed up against the carrycot side with his head in an unnatural and unusual position”.
The judge said the baby died after his “breathing or ventilation” was “compromised”.
The baby’s parents, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, denied the baby was “ever put in the shed”. They claimed they had found the child lifeless in his cot in their bedroom in June 2020.
The baby’s parents said his death was a tragic case of a sudden unexplained death.
But the judge, ruling in a private family court in Liverpool, said the baby’s parents had “colluded to provide a false account” of the circumstances.
He also ruled that the baby’s parents “failed to adequately supervise” the baby.
The hearing was not in relation to a criminal investigation. Instead, council social services bosses had asked the judge to make findings about the boy’s death.
They have responsibility for other children in the family and wanted findings about the baby’s death to help them make care decisions.
The family’s names, where they lived or the local authority involved can therefore not be reported.
In his ruling, Judge Parker 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).
“Contrary to safe sleeping guidelines”, he said the baby was sometimes put on the floor in a room – on his own away from his parents – to “cry and self-soothe”.
The judge said either the baby’s mother or father put him in his carrycot and “in the shed unsupervised” before his death.
“In haste or recklessly, the carrycot was placed by mother and/or father on an inappropriate and insecure cardboard box in the shed,” the judge said.
“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.”
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Judge Parker said the baby’s parents, who lived in a bungalow, “did not feel that they had any proper support” and added: “They said that there were no face-to-face visits from the health visitor or midwife. Everything was on the telephone.”
The judge said police investigated the boy’s death and said “there was no identified criminality or neglect”.
Officers went to the bungalow within half an hour of the youngster being taken to hospital and found his cot “in the garden shed”.
Judge Parker did not name the police force involved.
He said “no sign of injury” were spotted during post-mortem tests.
