Killed at Nursery: Parents of Baby Who Died Call for CCTV to be Mandatory and More Inspections

The weekend before baby Genevieve Meehan died was one of the best of her short life. The nine-month-old, with her beaming smile and sparkling 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.

- Josh Halliday

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 while her cries of distress went 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 goes on.

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 believe risk further tragedies in early years settings across Britain.

John Meehan, Genevieve's father, said his daughter's killer would not have been convicted without CCTV footage, which they are campaigning to be made mandatory in all nurseries.

Video played in court showed Roughley impatiently manhandling the little girl before she died, muttering: "Vile" and singing, "Oh Genevieve. Genevieve go home, Genevieve go home, go home Genevieve," as the youngster cried on a play mat.