Child dies in nursery tragedy 'after remaining undiscovered for 20 minutes'

A ‘tick-box’ attitude to health and safety and a lack of supervision led to the death of a three-year old girl at a nursery, Leeds Crown Court has heard.

Lydia Bishop was unsupervised for 20 minutes at York College nursery on her first full day at the facility on September 17th 2012, the court was told.

Video taken on that day showed Lydia running towards a slide that had a rope attached to it. The prosecution argued that staff at the nursery knew this slide was a health and safety risk, and the nursery had banned children from playing on the slide without supervision.

This video revealed that Lydia remained trapped for almost 20 minutes before qualified child care professional Sophee Redhead found her with a rope around her neck.

Paramedics and staff attempted to resuscitate Lydia but she died later that day. Barristers argued that she would have made a full recovery had she been found sooner, and claimed Redhead was “grossly negligent”.

York College denies failing to ensure the health and safety of people not in their employment, while Sophee Redhead denies committing manslaughter by gross negligence.

The case continues.

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