A nursery school in the UK has admitted to corporate manslaughter after a 14-month-old boy died in their care in 2022.
According to tragic reports, Noah Sibanda passed away in December 2022 at Fairytales Day Nursery in Dudley, England. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the little boy had been “physically restrained face down on a cushion, with a blanket over his face and a leg placed over him”.
On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, Fairytales Day Nursery admitted to one count of corporate manslaughter and a Health and Safety at Work Act offense.
According to PEOPLE, citing prosecutors, nursery worker Kimberley Cookson, 23, previously pled guilty to gross negligence manslaughter after it was alleged that she had tried to make Noah sleep by placing him face-down on a cushion before restraining him with her leg.
Describing the heartbreaking incident, the CPS said: “The incident was captured on CCTV at the nursery, and showed Noah was tightly wrapped in a sleeping bag, had a blanket placed over his head, and was laid face down to sleep by Cookson.
“She held him in place face down on a soft cushion and restrained him with her leg for some of that time, in what appeared to be an effort to make him sleep when he did not want to.”
One-year-old Noah was rushed to hospital when nursery staff realised that he wasn’t breathing. Sadly, he was later pronounced dead.
“Noah Sibanda should have been safe in the care of professionals entrusted with his wellbeing,” said prosecutor Alex Johnson in a statement.
“He lost his life as a result of reckless and dangerous sleeping practices which posed an obvious and serious risk of harm.”
Debbie Latewood, 55, who owned the nursery, reportedly admitted to a Health and Safety at Work Act offense, conceding that she should have but didn’t know children were being put to sleep in a dangerous way.
The defendants in the case are to be sentenced in April.
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