When i worked with one of the well known breakdown companies, this was a common callout for us, usually on a Monday morning after the person had briefly started the car to move it when washing it on the Sunday afternoon.

My theory was always that this was due to the plugs being sooty after the cold start and with the vehicle not being run to temperature the plugs did not self clean. This then resulted in a weaker spark not being able to ignite the fuel on a cold engine and with the customer cranking the engine the unburnt fuel resulted in bore wash and the loss of compression.

Normal start procedure was to remove fuel pump fuse or relay and crank over and would normally start, in the worst cases a quick clean of the plugs and off they would go.

Tommy