Nursery World - Stockport nursery tragedy: Deputy manager thought babies over six months could be positioned on their front to sleep

Deputy manager, Kate Roughely, who is accused of the manslaughter of Genevieve Meehan, along with an alternate court of child abuse, has told a jury she believed infants over six months did not need to be placed on their backs.

Manchester Crown Court, PHOTO: Adobe Stock

Roughley, who is on trial at Manchester Crown Court, said it was a ‘general understanding’ at Tiny Toes Nursery in Cheadle Hulme that children could be positioned on their front or side from six months onwards.

Kate Roughley is alleged to have swaddled nine-month-old Genevieve in a blanket and placed her face down on a bean bag, which she was strapped to, to sleep while in her care at Tiny Toes Nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport on 9 May 2022.

Genevieve was later found unresponsive and taken to hospital where she was pronounced dead the same afternoon, the court previously heard.

Giving evidence, Roughley told jurors that swaddling babies was ‘procedure’ at the nursery when she started, and was also done to older children.

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