Mum describes nightmare after son died during nursery naptime

Warning: This story contains distressing content

For busy mum Masi Sibanda, 9 December 2022 started like any other day.

She dropped off her only son, 14-month-old Noah, at Fairytales Day Nursery in Dudley and returned home believing he was safe with his friends and carers.

Within hours, Noah was dead, having been suffocated while being put to sleep.

The true horrors of what happened that day can now be reported following the sentencing of staff worker Kimberley Cookson, 23, business owner Deborah Latewood, 55, and the nursery at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday.

More than three years on, his mother is living every parent's worst nightmare.

"I still kept on saying to myself this is a dream, surely this isn't real," she told the BBC.

The toddler died after being restrained while being put down for a nap at the now-closed nursery on Bourne Street.

During police investigations it emerged that unsafe sleep practices were rife at Fairytales, with young children forcibly held down if they did not drop off easily.

The little boy's last moments were filmed on CCTV inside the room he was in. His mother described the devastating moment police showed her the footage of Cookson forcing her son to sleep.

"Noah was struggling," she recalled.

"He wasn't sleeping, didn't want to sleep. And in response to that, she wraps him tighter.

"She puts a blanket on his head again. And then he's passing away, he's dying there."

"Noah was tightly wrapped and placed face down on a cushion with a blanket over his head for his morning sleep," Det Insp Carla Thompson told the BBC.

"Noah tried to free himself, but he couldn't and he fell off the cushion onto the floor," she added.

Just 30 minutes later, his key worker Cookson put him down again for a second sleep in the afternoon, placing him inside a small teepee that was decorated in tinsel for Christmas.

Care workers did not check on him for two hours, the senior investigating officer said.

"When staff finally checked on him he wasn't breathing and the paramedics were called."

Emergency services rushed to the nursery but Noah was confirmed dead in hospital.

His mother recalled the awful moment she realised he had gone.

"When I did manage to touch and hold Noah, his body was so cold, I've never felt him so cold," she said.

Cookson later pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter and has been sentenced to three years and four months in prison.

Fairytales Day Nursery Limited pleaded guilty to corporate manslaughter and failing to comply with a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Judge Justice Choudhury fined the firm £240,000 during Friday's hearing. It will also have to pay £56,000 in legal costs.

Latewood, who admitted she should have known children were being put to sleep in a dangerous position, was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years.

The calm and sweet-natured boy was a joy to be around, his mum recalled: "It's really nice to think of all the fond memories, but it's bittersweet.

"I just wish I had more time with him."

'Dangerous, reckless, malicious'

The death was initially treated as not suspicious until concerns were raised following an Ofsted inspection.

Now, after years without proper answers, justice will finally be served. But for the grieving mother, nothing can undo the events of that day.

"This isn't about education or safe sleeping, it's about the fact that there are people in these nurseries that seem to be so fixated on trying to get children to be quiet and to sleep. It's dangerous, it's reckless, it's malicious, it's just mean."

Following Noah's death, the education watchdog Ofsted issued the site a month's deadline to ensure staff received training that specifically addressed the care of babies. The nursery was also ordered to review their procedures around safe sleeping.

However, Ofsted found Fairytales Day Nursery was "no longer suitable to be registered" and shut it down on 18 April 2023. The Fairytales Day Nursery on St James Road, which was also run by Latewood, was also shut down.

"I would hate to say no, nurseries aren't safe, that's only going to instill fear in people, I don't want that," Masi said.

"But from my experience, nursery was not a safe or good choice. Not at all.

During the police investigation, it was found that the dangerous method used on Noah was commonplace.

"The footage that we have seen shows the unsafe sleep practices that the nursery was doing with children in the nursery, not just Noah," Thompson said.

"It wasn't an isolated incident and that's why Deborah Latewood is being held responsible for Noah's death, it was an unsafe sleeping practice that had been ongoing and we don't know how long for.

"I've worked in child protection for a long time and I've never dealt with anything like this in a nursery previously."

The jury heard Cookson "could not explain" why she behaved so harshly towards the toddler that day and did not know why she had not checked on him, adding there was "no excuse".

She told police she had learnt how to wrap and swaddle babies on the job and had no formal training in how to put children down to sleep.

Pleading with Noah's parents for forgiveness, she told the court that she "deserved to be punished". The nursery apologised to Noah's family and said his death should never have happened.

Addressing the Sibanda family, Thompson said: "They have shown nothing but dignity throughout the investigation and continued to put their trust in us to get justice for Noah."

The Lullaby Trust, which exists to keep babies safe and supports bereaved families, has been working with the Department of Education to bring about stricter regulations on safe sleeping.

Its CEO Jenny Ward said: "You put a baby in their own separate, clear sleep space on their back for every sleep and keep them away from smoke. Those things keep a baby really safe."

Ward added that there was more work to be done and "we need to make sure that everybody is asking the questions about how babies are sleeping, that they know the safe sleep advice, that staff are trained and that babies are put to sleep safely".

The charity launched the Campaign for Gigi in memory of nine-month old Genevieve Meehan who was killed after being tightly swaddled and strapped face down onto a bean bag.

The CEO said: "We know that the regulations around safe sleep aren't as strong as we'd like them to be. We want Ofsted to have more powers to be able to go in and check them."