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WARNING: DISTRESSING DETAILS – Noah Sibanda, who was 14 months old, died at Fairytales Day Nursery in Dudley after he was suffocated as nursery worker Kimberley Cookson tried to get him to sleep
15:32, 17 Apr 2026Updated 15:55, 17 Apr 2026
Footage of Noah Sibanda placed in tepee at nursery in manslaughter case
A nursery worker cried in court before she was jailed for three years and four months after a 14-month-old toddler suffocated to death while she tried to get him to sleep in an “exceptionally dangerous” position.
Noah Sibanda died at Fairytales Day Nursery in Bourne Street, Dudley, on December 9, 2022, after he was held down in a tightly wrapped sleeping bag. CCTV captured the tragic toddler lying face down in the bag with a blanket over his head as nursery worker Kimberley Cookson restrained him with her leg.
At one point, he was seen “thrashing around” before Cookson, 23, who had previously pleaded guilty to gross negligence manslaughter, put her left leg across the 14-month-old’s body to restrict his movement, prosecutor John Elvidge said. Noah continued to struggle as Cookson patted his back.
At 13:08pm, the toddler made “occasional movement,” Wolverhampton Crown Court heard, but Cookson, who told the court she “deserved to be punished” pushed the sleeping bag tighter around Noah and, by 1:10pm, he was no longer moving.
Kimberley Cookson, 23, said she ‘deserves to be punished’
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Mr Elvidge said Cookson removed her knee from Noah after about seven minutes and appeared to indicate to her colleague that she believed the toddler was asleep.
The private nursery, which is no longer operating, previously admitted to corporate manslaughter and a health and safety offence over Noah’s death. Judge Justice Choudhury fined the nursery £240,000 and ordered the company to pay £56,000 costs.
Deborah Latewood, 55, admitted she should have known children were being put to sleep in a dangerous position and has been sentenced to six months in prison, suspended for two years
The court heard the blue sleeping bag Noah was placed inside was called a season three “sleeping pod” which measured 130cm by 65cm (51 by 26 inches). “A three-season sleeping bag is designed for camping outdoors in cooler weather, and would be too hot indoors during the day time,” the prosecutor said.
The sleeping environment in the nursery was “exceptionally dangerous”, he added. “[Noah] would have become exhausted and overheated, as well as struggling to breathe.”
Noah was wrapped tightly in a sleeping bag designed for camping outdoors
Staff later realised Noah was no longer breathing and began attempting CPR as Cookson burst into tears. Tragically, he was declared dead in hospital.
Cookson, who turned 20 the day before Noah’s death and began working at the nursery as an apprentice at 16, told police she learnt how to wrap and swaddle babies on the job, but she “could not explain” why she behaved so harshly towards Noah on the day of his death, and did not know why she had not checked on him, the court heard.
She told police she thought it was “fine” to cover children’s faces as long as airflow was not restricted. In her third interview with officers, Cookson answered “no comment” to many questions, the prosecutor said.
Noah’s parents had chosen the nursery for its good Ofsted rating and for the fact that it had won a small business of the year award, the court heard. On a visit there, staff told them they would “rock” children to sleep.
The court was told that Noah’s mum, Masi Sibanda, had assumed children were well trained and relaxed to the sleeping routine due to the absence of cots at the nursery.
Noah’s mum, Masi Sibanda, described his as ‘beautiful to behold’
She said in a victim impact statement read to the court: “Behind closed doors, they were playing Russian Roulette with our children.”
Ms Sibanda said Noah was “beautiful to behold” and “made things so easy for me” as a first-time mother. Noah was a confident child, “always kind and full of patience and gentleness,” she told the court. Ms Sibanda said she had a “naive trust in the nursery” and “will forever feel guilty”.
“Since his death, there has not been a single day I haven’t regretted being alive when he is not,” she said. “My guilt comes from knowing I handed him over to people who killed him.
Fairytales Day Nursery in Bourne Street, Dudley(Image: Emma Trimble / SWNS)
“Why did [Cookson] hate our son so much… from what I’ve seen she simply does not care, she treated him worse than an animal,” Ms Sibanda said. “They are the reason he died… my child died alone, scared and in pain.”
Noah’s father, Thulani Sibanda, said his mental health has been “profoundly affected” by the death of his son, who he thinks about every day.
“I imagine the life he should’ve had, the milestones he should’ve reached, the person he should’ve grown into,” he said. “Noah’s absence is felt in every corner of our lives. We will never see him grow, never hear his voice change, never see him start school.
“Noah deserved to live, he deserved to be protected and we deserved to watch him grow up,” Mr Sibanda added.
Noah’s mum said he ‘died alone, scared and in pain’
In a statement put to the court, Kimberley Cookson said: “I never set out to harm anyone”. She added that she can “only hope that one day” Noah’s family “hold it in their hearts to forgive me.”
“What happened will haunt me for the rest of my life,” Cookson said. “I used to describe myself as outgoing, but since that horrible day I’ve lost who I am. I should have done better.” The 23-year-old accepted that she “deserves to be punished,” the court heard.
Mitigating, Cookson’s representative Rashad Mohammed said she had “immediately accepted responsibility for what she had done,” and that there were failures in the nursery at a higher level, practices that were unsuitable and “quite simply dangerous”. He added it was a “toxic place” to work at times.
The court heard Noah would have been ‘exhausted and overheated’ in the sleeping bag
Mohammed said Cookson did not put the blanket over Noah’s head with malice, but to try and help him to sleep. He said Fairytales Day Nursery accepted it had failed to train and supervise staff adequately, which should be taken into account.
Dominic Kay KC, representing Fairytales Ltd, says the company wishes to publicly record its sincere remorse to Noah’s family.
“Noah’s parents, as we know and can imagine, trusted their child to Fairytales, and this should never have happened,” he told the court. “Nothing I say on behalf of the company can begin to address the grief and the sorrow felt by Noah’s family. The owners of Fairytales are truly deeply sorry for what happened.”
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