Dudley nursery director and worker sentenced over death of toddler

Noah Sibanda died after the incident at Fairytales Day Nursery in Bourne Street, Dudley, having been physically restrained face down on a cushion with a blanket over his face and a leg placed over him, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) previously said.

Nursery practitioner Kimberley Cookson, 23, admitted gross negligence manslaughter in relation to her actions in trying to make the toddler sleep on December 9 2022. She was jailed for three years and four months .

Director and business owner Deborah Latewood, 55, also admitted a Health and Safety at Work Act offence on the basis that she did not know – but should have known – children were being put down to sleep in a dangerous way. She was sentenced to six months suspended for two years,

The company which operated Fairytales Day Nursery, Fairytales Day Nursery Limited, admitted corporate manslaughter and a breach of health and safety - it is no longer trading. Today, the business was fined £240, 000 to be paid within 28 days and ordered to pay £56,000 in legal costs. A compensation order is to be determined.

The CPS said the incident, which was captured on CCTV at the nursery, saw Noah tightly wrapped in a sleeping bag with a blanket over his head and laid face down to sleep by Cookson.

She is said to have held the toddler face down on a cushion and restrained him with her leg for some of that time, in what the CPS said appeared to be an effort to “make him sleep when he did not want to”.

Noah was then found not to be breathing and 999 was called but he was pronounced dead in hospital.

The death sparked an intense police investigation. It led to West Midlands Police investigators watching hundreds of hours of CCTV footage surrounding the time of death of the youngster, and speaking to dozens of families about the practices of the nursery.

After the investigation, Cookson admitted to gross negligence manslaughter in relation to her actions, with Latewood initially denying corporate manslaughter, a failure to ensure that children in the baby room were put down to sleep safely, a failure to ensure that staff were adequately trained to put babies down to sleep, and a failure to ensure staff were adequately supervised whilst doing so.

The case was initially due to go to trial due to Latewood’s plea, but both she and the company changed their pleas to guilty.

A packed courtroom yesterday watched CCTV footage of events on the day of December 9 2022 leading up to Noah's event.

Dominic Kay KC said the actions of senior management at the nursery amounted to a gross breach of Noah and others.

He said there was a culture where children "were not being treated with sufficient care by some of the practitioners".

But he said prior to these events the company was a well run successful business and a popular nursery. Members of Noah's family packed the public gallery during the all day sentencing. Cookson and Latewood sat close to each other in the dock and were visibly emotional throughout. Testimonies on their behalf were read out which expressed their regret and sorrow over Noah's death.

High Court Judge Mr Justice Choudhury said: “Tragically, the events of that day meant that Mr and Mrs Sibanda would never see Noah alive again.

“The court has been shown CCTV footage of the baby room. The images on that footage can only be described as shocking.

“There were repeated instances of rough handling of babies by several of the nursery practitioners, including Miss Cookson, often in view of a manager.”

The judge said babies had been repeatedly tightly swaddled and then been covered in blankets or cloth in what was an “established” practice.

“Not once did any practitioner challenge another about this practice. These dangerous and unacceptable practices, which went unchecked at his nursery, reached their inevitable conclusion on the 9th of December 2022.”