The weekend before Genevieve Meehan died was one of the best of her short life.
The nine-month-old with the beaming smile and emerald eyes was leaping through her milestones: she had taken her first tentative steps, hands clasped to her mother’s, and said her first word: “Dadda”. She tried on sunglasses and a swimsuit for their first family holiday two months later.
The following morning, Genevieve’s mother, Katie Wheeler, took her to Tiny Toes nursery for only her second full day. Wheeler told staff that Gigi, as she was known, had been a bit “snotty” but was otherwise fine. And with a goodbye, she said: “I love you, sweetie.”
Just over seven hours later, Genevieve was pronounced dead. In what was supposed to be the safest place in the world, she had been strapped face down to a beanbag for an hour and 37 minutes and her cries of distress ignored. She was eventually found lifeless and blue, having died of suffocation.
Kate Roughley, the deputy manager of the nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, was last year found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 14 years after a trial at Manchester crown court. But the fight for justice continues.
In their first national newspaper interview, Genevieve’s parents said they had been left distressed and shocked by what they had learned since – about the practices of that nursery but also wider “systemic” safety lapses they believed risked further tragedies in early years settings across the country.
John Meehan, Genevieve’s father, said his daughter’s killer would not have been convicted without CCTV footage, which they are now campaigning to be made mandatory in nurseries.
Katie Wheeler and John Meehan, the parents of nine-month-old Genevieve. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
Video played in court showed Roughley impatiently handling the baby girl before she died, muttering: “Vile” and singing: “Oh Genevieve. Genevieve go home, Genevieve go home, go home Genevieve,” as the she cried on the play mat.
The CCTV also disproved the nursery worker’s claim that she had checked on Genevieve every couple of minutes. And it later led to the conviction of one of Roughley’s colleagues, Rebecca Gregory, for the “deplorable” neglect of four other babies. An ongoing health and safety inquiry could result in further prosecutions.
“But for the CCTV, we would have had absolutely no way of knowing about the way Genevieve was placed on a beanbag, about the infrequency of the checks, or about the general conduct towards Genevieve on the day. We really only got an answer because of the CCTV,” said Meehan, 39.
This week, Roksana Lecka, 22, was convicted of abusing 21 babies at a nursery in Twickenham, south-west London, after footage showed the worker pinching and scratching children and kicking one boy in the face. In that case, as Genevieve’s, CCTV was essential to the prosecution.
Life without Genevieve was ‘agonisingly painful’, her mother said. Photograph: Katie Wheeler
Meehan said: “Many responsible nurseries are already using CCTV very effectively, so all we’re saying is to make it so that all nurseries have it. It’s good for the nursery, it’s good for the parents, it’s good for Ofsted.”
Figures obtained by the BBC last year, and described by the couple as “horrifying”, show there were almost 20,000 reports of serious childcare incidents in England’s nurseries in the five years to March 2024 – up 40% on the previous five-year period. The law firm Farleys Solicitors has said the number of legal claims involving injuries to children in nurseries has increased tenfold over the past decade.
Wheeler, 40, said Ofsted should be given greater powers to undertake more frequent announced and unannounced inspections of nurseries. At present, the regulator is only obliged to inspect nurseries in England once every six years, compared with once every four academic years for schools.
Tiny Toes nursery, where Genevieve was killed, was rated “good” by Ofsted five years earlier, but the trial heard evidence suggesting it was run “shockingly”. On the day Genevieve died, Roughley was one of only two members of staff looking after 11 babies. The previous weekday there were 16 babies – far in excess of the one-to-three ratio for under-twos in England.
“I think the system definitely fails parents,” said Wheeler, who wants Ofsted to increase its number of unannounced inspections – which it currently only does when a specific concern has been raised – and to review CCTV when it is available.
“You’re never going to get a true snapshot of what a place is like and how safe it is unless you go out on a no-notice inspection and when you look at it regularly. A lot changes over six years. It’s life and death – and it’s not overstating it to say that.”
‘Many responsible nurseries are already using CCTV very effectively, so all we’re saying is to make it so that all nurseries have it,’ said John Meehan. Photograph: Katie Wheeler
Life without Genevieve was “agonisingly painful,” Wheeler said, describing the nine-month-old who relished her world full of cuddles, singing, dancing, food, her favourite green toy tambourine and “her everything”: her big sister, who is now nine.
The parents are planning to meet Labour’s early education minister, Stephen Morgan, later this month to press for improved safety in nurseries, including CCTV, more Ofsted inspections and a new legal framework to ban unsafe sleep practices, supported by the Lullaby Trust.
Failing to enact the changes, Meehan said, risked further tragedies: “There could be more deaths. There is absolutely that risk.”
The Department for Education said it was boosting safety in nurseries with new measures from September, including strengthening whistleblowing and recruitment, but that it would closely monitor whether further changes were needed.
It added: “Genevieve’s death was a tragedy and should never have happened. This government is committed to doing everything possible to keep children safe, as part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity and give every child the best start in life.”
Ofsted said it would be inappropriate to comment during an ongoing investigation but that “our thoughts remain with Genevieve’s family and we are deeply sorry for their loss”.
