Ikea warning over cot death

IKEA has warned parents not to hang hooks on babies’ cots after a 14-monthold girl died when one got caught on her pyjama top and strangled her.

Violet Anderson was found unconscious by her mother at the family’s home in Southwark, south London, on April 17 last year. She died at hospital later the same day.

Yesterday, a coroner ruled her death was a “tragic accident”. Southwark Coroner’s Court was told that the par- ents, Jennifer and Graham Anderson, had bought the flat-pack cot and hooks online from the furniture shop.

Gary Robertson, an Ikea health and safety manager, said the hooks were intended to be screwed into walls and were never marketed alongside cots. He said the firm had drafted new wording for its cot warning signs, saying: “Do not attach, stick or add any item to the inside or outside of your cot. It may become a catch hazard for your baby.”