A two-month-old baby died in a garden shed after his carrycot tipped off a cardboard box head first, causing him to suffocate, a court heard.
The child tragically died in June 2020 after being put in the outdoor building by his mother and father, as the home was "overcrowded", which was causing issues between the couple.
Family court judge Steven Parker said at Liverpool Family Court that the parents put the baby in the shed after complaining about a lack of "sleep and intimacy" in their home, the Daily Post reports.
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."
Judge Parker heard the youngster's parents called the emergency services and said he had been found lifeless in his cot in their bedroom.
The baby's parents said his death was a tragic case of sudden unexplained death, but the judge ruled the couple "failed to adequately supervise" him.
He 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 added the baby was sometimes put on the floor in a room - on his own away from his parents - to "cry and self-soothe".
Judge Parker said the baby's parents denied the baby was "ever put in the shed" and did not accept he was "ever placed in his cot on a surface that was inappropriate".
But the judge ruled the baby's parents "colluded to provide a false account" of the circumstances surrounding the youngster's death.
Judge Parker did not say where the family lived or name the local authority involved.
He said the baby's parents lived in a bungalow and felt they did not have enough support, claiming to have never had face-to-face visits from the health visitor or midwife.
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".
He said "no sign of injury" was spotted during post-mortem tests.
