A nursery worker has been jailed for gross negligence manslaughter after a 14-month-old baby died while in her care at a Dudley nursery. Kimberley Cookson was sentenced to three years and four months in prison at the crown court on 17 April 2026, following the death of Noah Sibanda, who was found unresponsive in the baby room of Fairytales Day Nursery on 9 December 2022 and pronounced dead in hospital an hour later.
Systematic failures in sleeping practices
Court proceedings heard that CCTV footage captured Cookson engaging in a series of dangerous practices that the judge described as “shocking”. She tightly wrapped Noah in a sleeping bag, placed a blanket over his head, laid him face down inside an indoor tepee, and restrained him with her left leg. The baby was then left unchecked for approximately two hours. The judge noted that it was “blind luck” that no other deaths had occurred at the nursery before Noah’s, adding that while Noah’s suffering may not have been obvious to Cookson, it “ought to have been”.
The nursery company, Fairytales Day Nursery Limited, pleaded guilty to corporate manslaughter and to failing to comply with a duty under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. It was fined £240,000 and ordered to pay £56,000 in costs. The company admitted to systemic failures including inadequate training, supervision, and unsafe sleeping procedures. Deborah Latewood, the director and business owner, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with general duties under the same Act. She was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and disqualified from being a director for seven years. Latewood admitted the offence on the basis that she did not know children were being put to sleep in a dangerous way but “should have known”. Her sentence was suspended following a recent change in sentencing laws under the 2026 Sentencing Act.
‘A ticking time bomb’ – parental reactions and demands for reform
Michelle Leech, whose 11-month-old son Jenson attended the nursery at the time of Noah’s death, described the “complete horror and disbelief” she felt when she arrived to collect him and saw the nursery flooded with ambulances and police. “It was a ticking time bomb, and it could have been my son,” she said. “It plagues me every day. The guilt that we feel as parents sending [our son] there to what could have been his death, it just comes back, and it haunts you.” Ms Leech is now calling for urgent changes across childcare, including more extensive background checks for staff, enhanced child protection training, stricter enforcement of health and safety standards, and more stringent checks on sleeping arrangements. “There were many other parents that this could have ended in tragedy for, and it hasn’t been acknowledged. It needs to happen now, because it will happen again. It’s happened before. How far can we trust Ofsted now? It’s really brought Ofsted under the spotlight.”
Kayleigh Arnold, whose daughter Avigail was at the nursery in a separate room for older toddlers, said her trust in childcare has been completely broken. When she learned arrests had been made in relation to Noah’s death, she was horrified: “Your heart goes in your throat, and you just think, what on earth did I do letting my daughter go there?” Because of the incident, she has decided not to send her youngest daughter, who has just turned one, to nursery. “I was supposed to go back to work, and last month, I said, ‘I just can’t leave her’. So I’ve made the decision to have a couple of years off work because I don’t want to leave her in a nursery anymore.” She believes more rigorous safety checks and greater transparency about parents’ and staff members’ experiences of childcare centres are needed.
Jonathan, a father of two boys who attended a second Fairytales Day Nursery site that has also now closed, said: “You don’t think these things can happen in a childcare setting. I was just completely devastated for the family and for the kid. There’s a selfish feeling of guilt [you experience] as a parent. You are thinking, what if that was my child, and that’s a hard feeling to have.” He reported being told by police that his son had been “assaulted” and that other babies had also been assaulted, but said he felt kept in the dark about specifics.
The deaths have drawn parallels with the case of nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan, who died at Tiny Toes Nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, in May 2022. She was found unresponsive after being tightly swaddled, strapped face down on a bean bag, and left unsupervised for over 90 minutes. Nursery worker Kate Roughley was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 14 years in May 2024. Genevieve’s mother, Katie Wheeler, is now leading the “Campaign for Gigi” alongside John Meehan, calling for compulsory CCTV in all nursery settings, unannounced Ofsted inspections, review of CCTV footage during inspections, clear statutory safe sleep guidance, and mandatory safe sleep training for all nursery staff and Ofsted inspectors. Speaking of the Fairytales case, Ms Wheeler said they were “shocked” to discover some of the conditions and that Ofsted reports were only undertaken every few years.
Ofsted’s role and response
Ofsted was notified of Noah’s death on 9 December 2022. On 14 December, it received concerns that the nursery was not meeting safeguarding and welfare requirements and suspended the nursery’s registration, believing children were at risk of harm. The nursery was required to make changes – including ensuring staff caring for babies had relevant training and demonstrating how sleeping babies would be frequently checked – but was deemed no longer suitable to be registered. A notice of intention to cancel the provider’s registration was issued on 13 April 2023, and Fairytales Day Nursery was permanently closed that month. The nursery had previously been rated “good in all categories” by Ofsted. A second linked nursery on St James Road was also closed following the investigation.
An Ofsted spokesperson said: “Our thoughts remain with Noah’s family and we are deeply sorry for their loss. No child should ever come to harm in a place that is meant to keep them safe. As the regulator and inspector of nurseries, we check that they are complying with the requirements set by the government, and we take action when concerns are raised. The government has recently announced new funding to allow us to inspect nurseries more frequently and we continually review our work, alongside our partners, to help make nurseries as safe as they can be for children.”
Recent reforms to Ofsted inspections, effective from April 2026, have moved routine inspections for early years settings from a six-year cycle to a four-year cycle. Settings rated “Needs Attention” will be inspected within 12 months, and those requiring “Urgent Improvement” within six months. A new five-point grading system was introduced from November 2025, replacing single-word judgments, and safeguarding is now assessed with a separate “met” or “not met” judgment. Additionally, the Early Years Foundation Stage reforms effective from September 2025 introduced requirements including safer recruitment practices, mandatory whistleblowing policies, renewed safeguarding training every two years, and a requirement for paediatric first aid certificates for staff counted in ratios.
West Midlands Police, which arrested six women in connection with Noah’s death, informed other parents that unsafe sleeping practices had been taking place. A police spokesperson said: “After a thorough investigation, and from the evidence we were able to obtain, we worked with the CPS to secure the charges and convictions we did, which incorporated the risk to the health and safety of other children under the Health and Safety at Work Act.”
