Kate Roughley trial: Killer nursery worker who told baby 'stop your whinging' before strapping her down on bean bag faces jail after being found guilty of manslaughter

A nursery worker who swaddled a baby girl and strapped her face down on a bean bag before ignoring her cries for an-hour-and-a-half has been found guilty of manslaughter.

Kate Roughley, 37, showed ‘hostility’ towards nine-month-old Genevieve Meehan, who was in her care at Tiny Toes Nursery in Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, in the days leading up to her death.

As captured on haunting CCTV, Roughley was shown to have ‘taken against’ Genevieve, affectionately called Gigi by her family, including by telling her to go home, to ‘stop your whinging’ and later saying to her: “Genevieve if we had any chance of being friends, you just blew it”.

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On May 9, 2022, less than half an hour after arriving at the nursery, Roughley swaddled Genevieve in a blanket and put her in a cot face down with a blanket pulled over her. Roughley then placed a sheet over the far end of the cot, restricting visibility.

Later, after around 1.30pm Roughley then swaddled Genevieve in a blanket, wrapping her arms and legs inside, and placed her face down on a bean bag. Genevieve was seen moving her head from side to side while lifting her legs and Roughley covered her with a blanket.

The baby girl was left virtually immobilised and face down from 1.35pm to 3.12pm when Roughley found her blue and unresponsive and raised the alarm, the court previously heard.

Staff and then paramedics attempted to revive Genevieve but her condition was irreversible and she was pronounced dead later that day in hospital.

Speaking about their beautiful daughter, her mother, Katie Wheeler said: “Gigi was not just a baby, she was a person with her likes and dislikes, her loves and her frustrations. She was a complete person.”

Giving evidence, Roughley denied ‘persecuting’ Genevieve, and said her care of her had been ‘no different to any other child’. She told jurors she was ‘distraught and heartbroken’ on finding the unconscious infant.

Asked by her barrister, Sarah Elliott KC: "What responsibility do you feel in relation to what happened?"

She replied: "I do feel responsible for Genevieve's death given she was in my care that day. However, I don't feel my actions were the cause of the death."

But following a month-long trial at Manchester Crown Court, she was convicted by a jury of manslaughter.

Roughley, of Basil Street, Heaton Norris, will be sentenced on Wednesday 22 May.