Parents of baby who died after being left to sleep in a shed 'made bad choices' while 'searching for peace and quiet'
13 December 2022, 22:00
The parents of a baby who died after being left in a shed made "very bad choices" while "searching for peace and quiet in a pressure cooker situation", a judge has ruled.
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Baby Z was placed in a carry cot on top of a cardboard box in the shed in June 2020, during the first Covid-19 lockdown.
The parents, who cannot be legally named, had denied he was in the shed and said instead he was sleeping in their bedroom when the father discovered he had stopped breathing.
Ambulance workers found him in the bedroom, but police searched the house and soon found the carry cot in the shed with vomit and a dummy inside.
Judge Steven Parker said at Liverpool Family Court that the little boy's "breathing or ventilation" had been "compromised" after his cot had fallen over, which "led to his death".
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The parents had argued that he had died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
The case is being heard so the judge can make "findings of fact". The local authority and police force involved cannot be named.
Judge Parker said that the parents "colluded to provide a false account of the circumstances".
He said that they had been living in Baby Z's grandparents' bungalow in a "pressure cooker" situation in the bungalow, and "did not feel that they had any proper support" because of the lockdown.
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He wrote: "At the time Z 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 Z.
"Contrary to safe sleeping guidelines, aged less than eight weeks old, Z was sometimes placed on the floor in a room on his own away from his parents, to cry and self-soothe.
He went on: "This judgment will come as crushing blow for the parents. They have already had to cope with the loss of Z and now having avoided any finding by a court of blame in the last two years, are suddenly confronted by such a finding.
"In the hope that it mitigates the devastation for them, I fully accept that they did not intend to cause Z any harm at all. Quite the contrary. They were searching for peace and quiet in a pressure cooker situation and made very bad choices.'
Judge Parker added that leaving Baby Z on the box was "neglectful" but did not count as "deliberate harm".
He went on: "Nor was it borne out of any loss of love for their child. This child appeared well-nourished and there were no signs of any injuries, current or past.
"They have paid and continue to pay a heavy price. They will need a lot of professional support moving forwards, not least to deal with their grief."
