The sentencing of two parents who left their young son alone in his room for days on end has been delayed.
The father, aged 51, and mother, aged 38, were due to be dealt with at Exeter Crown Court but the case was adjourned by Judge Simon Carr.
He said that a basis of plea submitted by the mother minimised the offence to such an extent that it amounted to a denial of the criminal charge.
The parents, from South Devon, have both admitted neglecting the boy from the ages of four to nine between 2007 and 2012.
The case has been transferred back to the presiding Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, the Recorder of the City of Exeter, who had earlier ruled the basis of plea would make no difference to sentence. He will hear the case at a later date.
The prosecution allege the parents held the boy captive in his room or left him freezing outside in wet weather. The boy is now aged 11 and with foster parents.
Judge Carr decided he could not hear the case because he believed the mother's basis of plea amounted to a denial of any criminal conduct.
He said:"I don't think it amounts to an admission of criminal conduct. I don't think sending a child out in inappropriate clothing, sending him to his room amount to the offence.
"This basis of plea minimises the conduct to such an extent it is no longer a criminal offence."
Mr Robert Linford, defending, said the Crown have never accepted the basis of plea but the case had been listed for sentence because on the last occasion it was in court Judge Gilbert had ruled it would not make any difference to sentence.
