Baby chocked to death in 'designer' cot

[Petrol Pete]

When I first saw this story around November 2016 My heart went out to the parents of the dead child and it made me think of all the 'bumps in the night' my sleeping wife and I might have missed when our own children were babies.

But just yesterday I saw a picture of the 'bespoke designer' bed that the parents had paid £655 for as it's all over the news as the designer (and I use the term 'designer' very loosely) is facing a charge of manslaughter by gross negligence and fraud. What jail time will that get you in the UK these days ? 3 months and a slap on the wrist ? But I digress.

Anyway , take a look at the bed. I am not a carpenter or joiner but I am a parent and within seconds I saw 4 major (obvious) flaws in its design that could cause injury or death to a child and that is from just one photograph.

The accused carries most of the blame here as far as I am concerned especially as he told the parents that it had passed all UK safety regulations.

But as parents must take some of the blame bearing in mind they allowed their 7 month old and 2 year old children sleep in this death-trap.

I know some might give me a hard time over this post , but before you do just look at the construction of the bed and tell me you would let your babies sleep in it.

I can not imagine what the parents are going through and it must be awful to have to hear it all again in court and no matter what happens to the accused they will never get their child back. So very sad.

 

[Alex225]

I had a quick look on-line and saw the design of the bed. First thing I noticed was the size of the holes in the sides and obviously that was the cause of the child dying. Very very tragic and in reality a slim chance but enough of a chance to result in this.

I have a 9 month old who is extremely active. She's in a normal cot at the moment and the bars are close enough together that she can put an arm or leg through but no chance of choking. We actually have a CCTV baby monitor as the kids rooms are upstairs and ours is now down, I thought that'd be over the top but it's been ideal.

If the designer has claimed things about this bed that were untrue then the blame lies with him. People are often naive, a new parent may not contemplate what could happen and put their trust in this person.

 

[MercedesDriver]

This is a tragedy. The 'Designers' fault is in claim the bed has passed the safety tests, but those parents are two idiots for even considering a baby should sleep in that. All the blame is on them. Who did they wanted to impress? The baby of 7 months?

 

[renault12ts]

Seven-month-old baby choked to death in cot 'sold by businessman who copied designs off the internet'

 

[MancMike]

Of course the designer is also at fault. His company by its very name is to design and build beds for children. You expect a level of competence, and a gap big enough for a body to wriggle through but not the head is a glaring oversight.

While the parents aren't blameless, obviously they never intended for any harm to come to their child. The word "designer" seems to be getting people's backs up, like it's a Givenchy or Chanel designed bed. It's just a custom made bed. I see parents pretty much every day on facebook groups in my local area requesting local joiners build them similar things. They weren't trying to impress the joneses, they thought they were buying a functional piece of furniture that'd provide fun for their child come wake up time.

Obviously it's a tragedy, a baby has lost its life and the parents have to live with that for the rest of their lives. I can't even imagine the emotions of the parents upon discovering the baby. I've a 7 year old of the same name.

The designer trying to get off scot-free by claiming the bed passed some safety checks is the biggest outrage here IMO.

 

[Yugguy]

I'd not spend 655 quid on a kid's bed.
Buy Baby Elegance Travis Cot Bed with Mattress - White | Cots, cribs and cot beds | Argos
Pricier does not always mean better.
Like the above post though, the designer is the real bastard for claiming it had passed checks.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Nothing useful can possibly come from this thread.

 

[AMGeed]

^ Unless another member is/was thinking of buying a similar bed for their child?

 

[Deleted member 6183]

^ Unless another member is/was thinking of buying a similar bed for their child?

If that was the case then the thread title is not specific enough, besides, you're mostly too old.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Nothing useful can possibly come from this thread.

I agree, isn't there enough pain and sorrow on the internet without posting it on a bloody car forum?

You guys really are fuelling the fire for closing the OT section.