Guilty Pleas in Toddler's Nursery Death Case

A 14-month-old boy died after being tightly wrapped in a sleeping bag, placed face down and restrained by a nursery worker in an attempt to make him sleep, leading to guilty pleas from the worker, the nursery's owner and the company itself at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Noah Sibanda suffocated on December 9, 2022, at Fairytales Day Nursery on Bourne Street in Dudley, West Midlands. CCTV footage shown during a sentencing hearing on Thursday captured nursery practitioner Kimberley Cookson, then 20, wrapping Noah tightly in the sleeping bag inside an indoor tepee structure, covering his head with a blanket and placing her leg over him for about seven minutes to restrict his movement. Staff left him unchecked for more than two hours before finding him unresponsive that afternoon. He was pronounced dead in hospital roughly an hour later.

Cookson, now 23 and from Dudley, has pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter. The nursery, Fairytales Day Nursery Limited, admitted corporate manslaughter, while owner Deborah Latewood, 55, also from Dudley, pleaded guilty to a Health and Safety at Work Act offence, acknowledging she did not know about the dangerous practices but should have....