'It's important we make sure no other children are harmed'

Parents of baby Genevieve, killed at nursery, take campaign to change law to Westminster

- BY AMY WALKER

THE parents of Genevieve Meehan killed at nursery have taken their Campaign for Gigi to Westminster.

The nine-month-old died after she was swaddled and strapped face down on a beanbag for 90 minutes by staff member Kate Roughley in May 2022 at Tiny Toes Children's Day nursery in Cheadle Hulme.

At her trial, CCTV footage revealed Roughley had been verbally abusive; made up nasty songs about Genevieve; and threw a toy at her.

She was jailed for 14 years after jurors found her guilty of manslaughter.

Now, a year on from the trial, Genevieve's mum and dad are urgently seeking a change in the law regarding safety in nurseries.

They want to see compulsory CCTV in nurseries; unannounced Ofsted inspections to be routine; and mandatory safe sleep training.

This week, Katie Wheeler and John Meehan travelled to Westminster to meet with minister for early education, Stephen Morgan MP, at the Department of Education to make a case for their campaign demands.

Speaking after the meeting, John said: “We had a very open discussion with the minister.

“We expressed all the different elements of the campaign and Stephen considered that we put forward a very powerful case for the changes that we were advocating for.

“He was concerned about making sure that there weren't obstacles in the way of those changes, that they looked at the evidence for it, what they could do in terms of working with Ofsted, as to how that could be implemented.

“So he promised that he would go away and do work on that, and the department would do work on it, and that they would keep us updated as to their progress.

“And very much from us it was the case that we were very happy for him to do that, but we can’t let the machinery of government be an obstacle to the changes that we want.

“It’s very easy to hide behind that machinery.