Hugo Boss has admitted breaching health and safety rules after a boy died when he was crushed by a mirror at its store in Bicester Village.

Four-year-old Austen Harrison of Crawley died after an unsecured 18-stone wall mirror fell on him in the changing room of the store on June 4, 2013.

Austen suffered irreparable brain damage and his life support machine was turned off at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital four days later on June 8.

At Banbury Magistrates’ Court yesterday, Barry Berlin, prosecuting on behalf of Cherwell District Council, told District Judge David Chinery that although Hugo Boss could be sentenced in the magistrates’ court, the maximum fine of £20,000 per offence was not sufficient.

He suggested the case should be sentenced in the crown court, where the recommended starting point of a £100,000 fine per offence could be imposed or even exceeded.

He said: “Plainly this a very serious matter relating to a child aged four-and-a-half who on June 4 2013 was struck on the head by a seven feet tall, 18 stone free standing three-way mirror

“It wasn’t fixed to the wall despite its own requirements. We say bearing in mind that the injuries the child sustained resulted in his death this is a case that should be dealt with in the crown court.”

District Judge Chinery agreed the case should be adjourned for sentencing at Oxford Crown Court on a provisional date on June 19, adding: “This is quite plainly an exceptionally sad case and one where I consider that the penalties available in this court are clearly, clearly not appropriate to a case of this magnitude.”

Jonathan Laidlaw QC acting on behalf of Hugo Boss UK Limited entered a guilty plea on behalf of the company to offences under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

In March this year an inquest was held into Austen’s death at Oxford Coroner's Court, which heard the mirror had been placed in the changing room area several months before Austen’s visit to the store in June 2013 with his parents.

The inquest jury returned a narrative verdict stating that the mirror should have been fixed to the wall and the wall should have been reinforced while coroner Darren Salter described the incident as “an accident waiting to happen”.