Nursery admits guilt over baby death

A nursery where a baby boy died after being given a milk product he was allergic to today agreed its failures had led to the child's death.

Jigsaw Day Nurseries Ltd admitted its staff had not followed advice given to them by Thomas Egan's mother, nor paid attention to food labels before feeding cereal to the five-month-old - a food they had been warned was fatal for him.

Thomas, who was born allergic to dairy products, died after suffering anaphylactic shock as a result of the error.

The nursery group today pleaded guilty to a series of blunders under the Health & Safety at Work Act at Milton Keynes Magistrates.

Barrister Barry Berlin, who appeared for Milton Keynes council which brought the case, listed a number of errors at the nursery which contributed to Thomas's death.

Mr Berlin said that despite Thomas's mother Wendy insisting that her son should never be given products containing dairy, staff failed to ensure that food supplied to him had not contained milk.

Mr Berlin added that the nursery had ignored Mrs Egan's instructions that the infant must not be given breakfast and that there had not been proper handover procedures in place so the message could be passed on to other staff.

Magistrates heard that staff were not trained in the importance of checking food labels, risk assessments had not been done on children who were known to suffer from food allergies, and there was an inadequate plan in place for children who had consumed inappropriate food.

These factors, Mr Berlin said, led to Thomas's death 90 minutes after he was dropped off by his mother at the nursery in April last year. Mrs Egan, 39, a radiographer from Milton Keynes, told staff at the nursery in Browns Wood, Milton Keynes that doctors had warned he must never be given any products containing dairy.

But on 11 April 2002, soon after his arrival at the nursery, he was fed Farley's Sunrise Breakfast Cereal by nursery nurse Crystal Norman. She did not check the label and failed to spot that it contained dried milk.

Five minutes later Thomas began struggling to breathe and turned blue. He was rushed to Milton Keynes General Hospital, but later died.

In a statement read out in court today, Mike McKechnie, chief executive of Jigsaw, said staff were "devastated" by Thomas's death. He added: "The thoughts of my team and myself are for Mr and Mrs Egan, whose loss goes beyond the imaginable."

Mr McKechnie said the Jigsaw workforce were "passionately committed people" who had lived through "their own hell - the hell of having your own self-belief and self-worth torn apart".

An inquest into Thomas's death earlier this year concluded that neglect had contributed to his death. The case was referred to Aylesbury Crown Court for sentencing.