Manslaughter verdict over baby strangled in nursery cot

Molly Cunliffe was taking a morning nap at the Tiddlywinks nursery in Gloucester when the cord of a drawstring bag became tangled around her neck.

Staff had ignored safety procedures by hanging the bags, which stored spare bedding, from the cot, the inquest heard.

Scroll down for more...

The verdict was returned by a jury after the coroner advised them it was "an extremely serious conclusion for you to reach".

A previous inquiry had cleared the nursery of wrongdoing and it was allowed to reopen.

But its owner has been warned that she may now face legal action from Molly's parents, Matthew and Keata.

It is understood the couple will be pursuing a civil case against the owner as well as urging the Crown Prosecution Service to begin criminal proceedings.

Nursery staff told the Gloucester inquest how they found 16-month-old Molly lifeless in her bed in the "sleep room" with the cord tightly wrapped around her neck.

She died two weeks later in October 2005 at Bristol Children's Hospital after her parents made the agonising decision to switch off her life-support machine.

Nursery manager Selina Matthews acknowledged there were too few staff present on the day Molly died and that, as a result, the child may have been unchecked for too long.

She also admitted that Molly's mother had warned her the little girl liked to put things around her neck, but she had not seen the cords as a risk.

Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore told the jury: "To return a verdict of unlawful killing you must be satisfied that Molly died as a result of that negligence, the risk of death was foreseeable.

"You must be sure that a reasonably competent and sensible person with experience of working with children would have foreseen that risk, and the breach made a significant contribution to her death. The breach must be so negligent it amounts to the crime of homicide."

He continued: "There is ample evidence to return a verdict of unlawful killing by gross negligence manslaughter.

"To return that verdict you have to find that the negligence was so bad as to amount to a crime. This is an extremely serious conclusion for you to reach."

Mr Crickmore added: "No risk assessment at all was done in relation to the cots or the use of bags attached to them, the staff just did what they had always done.

"The nursery's own policy of ten-minute checks on the children had gone awry at the time of Molly's death.

"Molly's agility, inquisitiveness and propensity to put things round her neck were well known to people in the nursery, to each and every one of them."

After the verdict, Mr Cunliffe, a 28-year-old engineer, said: "Every human right our daughter had was taken away by incompetent staff who failed to see the dangers of leaving a drawstring bag near an inquisitive, fully mobile toddler.

"This was unforgivable negligence that resulted in the needless death of our daughter Molly."

Paul Griffin, the lawyer representing the nursery's owner, Rosemary Meadows, said his client's "heartfelt sympathy goes out to Molly's parents".

He said it was unlikely Mrs Meadows would be working in the nursery business in the future.

The nursery is now under new management and is no longer known as Tiddlywinks.

A spokesman for Gloucestershire Police said: "In the light of today's verdict of unlawful killing, we will be discussing the case with the coroner and considering the possibility of further action."