A nursery worker has been jailed for 14 years over the manslaughter of a baby she was supposed to be looking after.
Kate Roughley, 37, strapped nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan to a beanbag at the Tiny Toes nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, on 9 May 2022.
Genevieve was left on the beanbag for 90 minutes and was seen struggling and coughing on CCTV footage.
But Roughley did not check on her until she was “unresponsive and blue”.
‘Harrowing’
Jurors heard Genevieve, the daughter of barrister John Meehan and solicitor Katie Wheeler, died from asphyxiation caused by the stresses placed on her body by a “very unsafe sleeping environment”.
Sentencing Roughley, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen told her 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.”
Source: BBC
