Nursery toddler 'unlawfully killed'

Staff at Tiddlywinks, in Gloucester, were unable to resuscitate 16-month-old Molly Cunliffe, who had entangled herself on a drawstring bag tied to her travel-cot's bars. She died two weeks later at Bristol Children's Hospital after her parents decided her ventilator should be switched off.

Molly's mother and father - Keata Glenton, 29, and Matthew Cunliffe, 28, - broke down in tears and hugged as the verdict was returned at Gloucester Shire Hall.

A child safety officer had told the jury that staff ignored "well-recognised risks" by tying bedding bags to cots at the nursery.

The jury, at Gloucester Shire Hall, also heard it was an "accident waiting to happen". Molly had been left unsupervised by junior members of staff for more than 20 minutes.

the nursery, but a spokesman for Molly's family said her parents were preparing a civil action.

Mr Cunliffe, holding his partner's hand, struggled to hold back tears as he read out a statement following the hearing.

He said: "We understood her welfare and safety was with the staff who were employed by (Tiddlywinks owner) Rosemary Meadows. Every human right of our beautiful daughter was taken away by incompetent staff who failed to see the dangers of having a drawstring bag near an inquisitive 16-month-old toddler.

"We feel that this resulted in unforgivable negligence and the needless death of our daughter Molly. Justice has been done and we hope a clear message will be sent out to other carers so this catalogue of errors will never happen again. We would also like to thank Molly for giving us 16 precious months."

During the three-day inquest, Hannah Tyndall, operations manager for the nursery, admitted the nursery had been guilty of "bad practice" on the day of the incident in October 2005. She also said they had taken an "obvious risk" by hanging a cloth bag from the baby's cot.