A nursery worker has been jailed for 14 years for killing a baby girl she strapped face down on a bean bag for more than 90 minutes.
Kate Roughley tightly swaddled nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan before she further restrained her with a harness and then covered her with a blanket.
The 37-year-old then failed to carry out adequate checks on the distressed child before discovering her unresponsive and blue on the afternoon of May 9, 2022.
Her colleagues at Tiny Toes nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, and paramedics tried to revive Genevieve but her condition was irreversible and she was pronounced dead in hospital later that day.
Kate Roughley, of Heaton Norris, Stockport was found guilty of manslaughterPAOn Monday, a jury at Manchester Crown Court unanimously found Roughley guilty of manslaughter by ill-treatment after the prosecution said she “persecuted” the youngster for occupying too much of her time.
Genevieve, the daughter of barrister John Meehan and solicitor Katie Wheeler, died from asphyxiation brought on by a combination of pathophysiological stresses created by a “very unsafe sleeping environment”.
Roughley put Genevieve in “mortal danger” because she was “banished” to the bean bag for not sleeping long enough for her liking, the court heard.
Jurors were in tears at the start of the trial as they watched nursery CCTV footage of the baby room, which captured the tragedy unfolding as Genevieve was left “virtually immobilised” from 1.35pm to 3.12pm.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
The former Tiny Toes nursery in Cheadle HulmeGoogle MapsThe defendant’s case was that Genevieve’s death was a “terrible and unavoidable accident” and not the result of any unlawful acts.
Sentencing, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen told the defendant that Genevieve’s death was “absolutely avoidable”.
She said: “As the harrowing CCTV audio and video footage showed, that day you left Genevieve in that position only carrying the most cursory and infrequent of checks.
"I am certain that every person in this courtroom who watched that footage was willing you to pick her up and remove her from the danger you had placed her, knowing of course that you didn’t.
"It was apparent that at best you considered Genevieve to be a nuisance and at times displayed antipathy and frustration with her. Your interactions with Genevieve on May 6 and May 9 palpably lacked any care, kindness or concern for her wellbeing."
Roughley, of Heaton Norris, Stockport, joined Tiny Toes straight from college at the age of 18 and said she gained most of her knowledge of working with babies and young children from her colleagues.
She said the ratio of staff to children at the nursery “gradually worsened”.
In April and May 2022 the staff-to-children ratio was at various times one to nine, two to 11, two to 13 and one to 16, the court heard.
A separate health and safety investigation is continuing into into the now-closed Tiny Toes, formerly owned by Franck Pelle, 59, and his wife, Karen, 66.
A second Tiny Toes nursery worker, Rebecca Gregory, 25, of Stockport, is due in court in August after she was charged with four counts of child neglect which are not related to Genevieve.
