Nursery worker jailed for 14 years for baby’s manslaughter

A nursery worker has been jailed for 14 years over the manslaughter of a baby she was supposed to be looking after.

Kate Roughley, 37, strapped nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan to a beanbag at the Tiny Toes nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, on 9 May 2022.

Genevieve was left on the beanbag for 90 minutes and was seen struggling and coughing on CCTV footage.

But Roughley did not check on her until she was “unresponsive and blue”.

Jurors heard Genevieve, the daughter of barrister John Meehan and solicitor Katie Wheeler, died from asphyxiation caused by the stresses placed on her body by a “very unsafe sleeping environment”.

Sentencing Roughley, Mrs Justice Ellenbogen told her Genevieve’s death was “absolutely avoidable”.

She said: “As the harrowing CCTV audio and video footage showed, that day you left Genevieve in that position only carrying the most cursory and infrequent of checks.

“I am certain that every person in this courtroom who watched that footage was willing you to pick her up and remove her from the danger you had placed her, knowing of course that you didn’t.”

Roughley had pleaded not guilty to unlawful act manslaughter and an alternate count of child cruelty, claiming Genevieve’s death was a “terrible and unavoidable accident”.

She claimed the staff-to-child ratio at Tiny Toes had “gradually worsened” and her barrister Sarah Elliott KC remined the jury that senior managers had a live CCTV feed of the baby room where Genevieve was fighting for her life.

But prosecutor Peter Wright KC told the jury Roughley had “taken against” Genevieve in the days before her death.

She was recorded mockingly singing “Genevieve go home” as the child cried, and was heard to call her “vile”.

He said Roughley had “punished” Genevieve for the perceived “imposition” the youngster had placed on her time.

Jurors were in tears at the start of the trial as they watched the CCTV footage from the baby room, which showed the “virtually immobilised” Genevieve becoming increasingly distressed from 13:35 to 15:12.

Speaking after the sentencing, Det Insp Charlotte Whalley, from Greater Manchester Police, said: “Due to Kate Roughley’s lack of remorse and refusal to take accountability for her actions, Genevieve’s family have been forced to relive the worst day of their life repeatedly, having their most painful memories made public.”