A FURNITURE boss described as “the king of DIY” walked free from court yesterday after two toddlers almost died using cots his company supplied.

Philip Dickens’ Bicester-based company, Baumhaus, supplied the Nutkin cot bed blamed for two incidents where children’s necks got stuck between railings.

Yesterday, a judge handed Dickens a three-month suspended prison sentence and ordered him and the company to pay compensation and fines totalling almost £50,000.

Dickens, of Burnley, Lancs, admitted two counts of placing an unsafe product on the market between January 2010 and July 2013.

Louise Conant, the mother of one of the children, said she had been through “a living hell” and that her daughter would probably have died had she not been watching on a video monitor.

Sentencing at Aylesbury Crown Court, sitting in Amersham, Judge Karen Holt told Dickens: “This is a serious offence because it could, through your negligence, have caused the loss of life of babies.”

Baumhaus was ordered to pay a £12,000 fine, while Mrs Conant and the mother of the second baby Mrs Turner will each be paid £1,000 compensation.

Dickens and Baumhaus were ordered to pay prosecution costs of £35,653.