A cot designer has pleaded guilty after a baby boy “choked to death” on a bed he made.
Seven-month-old Oscar Abbey was found with his head trapped in the holes on the side of the £655 cot bed, a court heard.
Craig Williams, the owner of the company that sold the bed to the boy’s parents, Charlie and Shannon Abbey, admitted on Wednesday to failing to discharge an employer’s general duty.
During a two-week trial at Leeds crown court, jurors heard that Oscar’s parents found his body after he got his head stuck while trying to crawl through a gap in the bed in November 2016.
Williams, who designed and built the bespoke cot bed, has been on trial for manslaughter by gross negligence and for fraud.
The 37-year-old owner of Sheffield-based Playtime Beds Ltd had denied both charges following the boy’s death.
But on Wednesday a jury was asked to return a not guilty verdict to the manslaughter charge as Williams entered two guilty pleas.
The trial heard how Oscar’s parents, from York, bought the bunk bed for Oscar and his two-year-old brother Maxwell in October 2016.
Maxwell, who slept on the top, “loved it” and was “really excited” about his top bunk, which had stairs to climb up and a slide for the exit.
He was joined by his little brother who slept in the cot bed below, which had doors with holes in, the jury was told.
But five days after Oscar started using the bed, on 3 November 2016, “tragedy” struck.
The court heard how Oscar’s father realised his head had become stuck when he went to check on the boys before he left for work.
In a statement read to court, he said: “It looked like he tried to crawl out backwards but his head was stuck.
“As I got closer and I crouched down next to him... I thought to myself: ‘He was wriggling out backwards.’
“I reached down and could feel he was very cold. I put one arm under him and the other on the side of the bed and threaded his body back through the hole.
“As I did so I turned him around and when I saw his face... I instantly realised he was gone.”
Prosecutor John Elvidge QC added: “During the course of the night he wriggled his body through the holes at the front of his cot bed but his head was too big to fit through; in effect he choked to death. He was starved of oxygen.”
In her statement, Oscar’s mother said she woke up and “heard Charlie shouting and screaming: ‘He’s not breathing.’
“I ran to the landing and Charlie was holding Oscar in both arms.”
She added that her son had first started using the cot after being told by Williams that it was suitable for children aged six or seven months.
“At no point was I advised that it was not suitable,” she said.
Elvidge said a customer had contacted Playtime Beds in March 2016, complaining that the bed she had bought did not meet standards, but was told by the defendant: “I have been in touch with trading standards and they are happy with my products.”
The prosecutor said trading standards officers had no record of contact from Williams. The jury heard that even after Oscar’s death, the defendant did not stop making beds and did not alter his designs.
The prosecutor said Williams, who “partially copied” designs from templates found on the internet, had made about three beds a week for three years – 450 beds in total.
Williams also pleaded guilty to fraud and will be sentenced on Friday.
