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  "path": "/2026/04/17/nursery-worker-jailed-killing-toddler-trying-make-go-sleep-28013788/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-17T14:48:21.000Z",
  "site": "https://metro.co.uk",
  "tags": [
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    "Crime News",
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  "textContent": "Kimberly Cookson had wrapped Noah Sibanda in a sleeping bag and restrained him face down\n(Picture: SWNS/WEST MIDLANDS POLICE)\n\nNursery worker Kimberly Cookson has been jailed for three years and four months after restraining and suffocating a toddler to get him to sleep.\n\nNoah Sibanda was 14-months-old when he was left unchecked by staff for more than two hours at the now-closed Fairytales Day Nursery in Dudley, West Midlands.\n\nCookson had wrapped him in a sleeping bag and restrained him face down in a bid to force him to go to sleep in December 2022.\n\nCCTV showed her placing a blanket over his head and putting her left leg on him to stop him moving.\n\nThe 23-year-old, who was 20 at the time of the incident, pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter and is being sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court.\n\n##  Sign up for all of the latest stories\n\nStart your day informed with Metro's **News Updates** newsletter or get **Breaking News** alerts the moment it happens.\n\nTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tvideo\n\nUp Next\n\nPrevious Page\n\nNext Page\n\nNoah Sibanda who died after the incident at Fairytales Nursery (Picture: West Midlands Police/SWNS)\n\nNoah was declared dead in hospital around an hour after being found unresponsive.\n\nNoah’s mum Masi said staff at the nursery ‘were playing Russian roulette with our children’s lives’.\n\nShe said: ‘I handed Noah over to the people who killed him.\n\n‘Because of this I cannot forgive myself and consequently will never forgive the defendants.’\n\nNoah’s father Thulani said: ‘My son died at just 14-months-old because of the gross negligence of someone who was trusted to care for him.\n\n‘When a child is taken from this world the loss is immeasurable. Noah’s absence is felt in every corner of our lives.\n\n‘Noah deserved to live. He deserved to be protected and we deserved to watch him grow up.’\n\nNursery owner Deborah Latewood, aged 55, is also facing sentence.\n\nLatewood, of Dudley, has admitted a Health and Safety at Work Act offence on the basis that she did not know children were being put down to sleep in a dangerous way, but should have known.\n\n******Get in touch with our news team by emailing us atwebnews@metro.co.uk.******\n\n**For more stories like this,** check our news page.\n\nComment now Comments \nAdd Metro as a Preferred Source on Google\nAdd as preferred source\n",
  "title": "Nursery worker jailed for killing toddler while trying to make him go to sleep"
}