Cot death bag 'not obvious risk'

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The woman in charge of a nursery where a baby girl choked to death on the string of a bag tied to her cot said risk assessments had been carried out.

Molly Cunliffe tangled herself on the strings of a cloth bag tied to her cot in October 2005, aged 16 months.

She died two weeks later at Bristol Children's Hospital after her parents decided to turn off her ventilator.

Speaking at an inquest at Gloucester Shire Hall, Hannah Tyndall said the bag was not identified as an obvious risk.

On the morning of the incident, Ms Tyndall had called a colleague into a meeting leaving four toddlers in the care of only two nursery workers.

'Own son's cot'

"It was not good practice to take a person away," said Ms Tyndall.

"But my understanding was that there were only three children to look after."

County coroner Alan Crickmore asked why, on hearing of the accident, Ms Tyndall had assumed Molly had choked on the drawstring, and if that was the case, he asked if she now considered the bags an obvious risk.

Ms Tyndall replied: "Yes. I did carry out a risk assessment but had not identified a potential risk."

The coroner asked: "Did you take account of the bags in your assessment?"

Ms Tyndall replied: "No. Throughout my employment in nurseries that's been how they have been used.

"They have never struck me as a hazard. I used them on my own son's cot."

The inquest continues.