The court has broken for lunch with the judge adjourning this sentencing hearing until 14:00.

Phil Mackie
reporting from Wolverhampton Crown Court

Several members of the Sibanda family are in tears as Masi SIbanda's victim impact statement is read out.

Nursery owner Deborah Latewood has her head bowed and looks upset as the statement is read out.

Noah's mum describes worker Kimberley Cookson's actions as treating Noah "as if he was a felon, a danger, as if he were in prison" and adds "we have all now been robbed of what Noah could have brought into our lives".

Masi Sibanda says there was "no sentence that Kimberley could receive that would amount to the pain and suffering we have been put through".

She says she had wondered whether the way Noah was treated by Cookson was because of their skin colour, or her having something against Noah or the family.

"Behind closed doors, they were playing Russian Roulette with our children," she said.

"Last time I saw and held my child was in hospital, shortly after I was told nothing more could be done.

"He wouldn’t open his eyes when I whispered to him that it was time to go home."

She says she watched Noah's father rock him and said "I'm so sorry little one".

A victim impact statement from Noah's mum Masi Sibanda has been read to the court.

Her son, as a baby, was "beautiful to behold," she says and added that, as a first-time mother, "he made things so easy for me".

"If he could talk, he would have told me everything would be OK," she says.

Noah was a confident child, "always kind and full of patience and gentleness".

His mother says she had a "naive trust in the nursery" and "I will forever feel guilty".

"Since his death, there has not been a single day I haven't regretted being alive when he is not," she adds. "My guilt comes from knowing I handed him over to people who killed him."

The "excessive" force used on him was like that used in prisons, she said, adding he was treated as a felon, a danger, as if he was in jail.

"I can't forgive myself and cannot forgive [the] defendants," she says.

The 14-month-old had suffered so much at the hands of Cookson, she adds, who had failed to keep him alive and safe.

"Guilt lives with me every time I look at my daughter," she adds.

"Why did [Cookson] hate our son so much... from what I've seen she simply does not care, she treated him worse than an animal.

"They are the reason he died... my child died alone, scared and in pain."

Cookson's negligence was gross, that is exceptionally bad, prosecutor John Elvidge tells the court.

"This was not an isolated incident involving her, even on that day," he adds.

"On the 9th of December she was supposed to be caring for Noah, but her attitude was not caring at all."

No action was taken to stop Cookson when she was restraining Noah, the court hears, meaning the practices must have been "normal".

Forcing babies to sleep when they were not ready and rough handling were also normal at the nursery, the prosecutor says.

Staff and management failed to follow guidelines on sleep and their behaviour fell "very far below accepted standard of care".

It was a failure of management, with staff forcing children to sleep falling below the standard of care expected of a nursery, the prosecutor adds.

Soft bedding around the child's head would have been "highly hazardous", the court hears.

Placing a leg on a child was extremely dangerous and Noah was trapped under several layers of blankets, meaning he would have been unable to wriggle out.

The sleeping environment in the nursery was "exceptionally dangerous", the prosecutor tells the court.

"[Noah] would have become exhausted and overheated, as well as struggling to breathe," he adds.

A specialist adds that "any young child placed to sleep in these circumstances would be likely to die".

The court hears that the blue sleeping bag was called a season-three "sleeping pod" and measured 130cm by 65cm (51 by 26 inches).

"A three-season sleeping bag is designed for camping outdoors in cooler weather, and would be too hot indoors during the day time," the prosecutor says.

John Elvidge adds that the length of the bag would be "very long" for an infant and the Lullaby Trust charity did not recommend sleeping pods for infants.

Image source, West Midlands Police

Kimberley Cookson told police she had learnt how to wrap and swaddle babies on the job.

She added that Noah usually fell asleep instantly, liked to be wrapped and she had no formal training in how to put children down to sleep.

Paperwork to track sleeping arrangements was scrapped before Noah's death to save on waste, the court heard.

Cookson said she was not told that putting a child on their back was safer and was not aware that there was a sleep policy at the nursery.

She thought it was "fine" to cover children's faces as long as airflow was not restricted.

Cookson said she "could not explain" why she behaved so harshly towards Noah that day and did not know why she had not checked on him, adding there was "no excuse".

Prosecutor John Elvidge said that in her third interview with police, Cookson answered "no comment" to many questions.

The police investigation reviewed more CCTV footage from the nursery, from 29 and 30 November and 5, 6, 7 and 8 December.

The prosecutor says investigators saw "illustrations of similar conduct on each of those days, that we have seen on the 9th of December - swaddling children, placing them face down, restrained."

The court hears that there was a failure to adopt safe sleeping practices and that failure was "systemic."

Latewood was clearly the senior manager at the company, says John Elvidge.

She was obviously the boss to whom the staff deferred.

At the nursery, the baby room was for children up to the age of two, with parents not allowed in.

All rooms were fitted with CCTV cameras with a continuous livestream.

Ofsted last inspected the nursery in early 2022 and it was rated as "good".

However, the report did not inspect the sleeping arrangements of the children.

The prosecutor adds that the site's safe sleep policy was last updated in January 2022, however it "wasn't operated or apparently understood by the staff in the room".

Phil Mackie
reporting from Wolverhampton Crown Court

In a message sent a few days later, when Cookson and other staff had been arrested, Latewood said she thought the CCTV footage showed staff being “a bit heavy-handed” but she said she did not “get it” because “it wasn’t that bad”.

Image source, West Midlands Police

After Noah's death, Deborah Latewood said the sleeping bags at the nursery were called "infant pods" and staff supervised and stayed with the children, making sure their heads were not covered.

Staff used to record when babies were checked during sleep but they no longer did this and she said she did not know why this was.

Latewood added she believed that Noah's parents "swaddled him for cultural reasons".

At 15:17, the emergency services were called, the court heard.

Some members of staff started doing CPR with many seen to be in distress and Cookson was crying.

At 15:23, paramedics arrived and a critical care team followed them at 15:30.

Noah was taken to an ambulance at 15:52 and then on to hospital.

Despite the best efforts of hospital staff, the 14 month-old was pronounced dead at 16:15, the court was told.

At 14:32, Cookson looked into Noah's teepee for "about eight seconds".

Noah was still wrapped face down and his head was covered with a folded blanket, the court was told.

Half an hour later, another child crawled into the teepee and put his hand on Noah but there was no reaction.

A worker removed the other child without checking on the 14 month-old.

At 15:13, Noah was still inside with the blanket over his head.

Cookson then came to the teepee, looked towards Noah and adjusted items inside before looking at him.

Prosecutor Elvidge said this was the first physical check on Noah for two hours.

Cookson noticed he was unresponsive and removed him, taking him to the nappy-changing room.

The court is told that, after 13:12 on that day, Noah did not move again.

A worker checked on another child shortly afterwards, but did not check on him.

An hour later, Cookson reached into the teepee where he was asleep and took a blanket to place over another child's head.

More than an hour later, the video showed he was inside the teepee with his head still covered.

Cookson then entered the teepee, tidied items around him but did nott check on Noah.

Phil Mackie
reporting from Wolverhampton Crown Court

Eventually the CCTV footage shows Cookson once again trying to force Noah to sleep, again wrapping him tightly in blankets, and placing him face down - this time in a teepee covered in Christmas tinsel. he can be seen wriggling, clearly not asleep.

She puts her knee over him to stop him moving and, after seven minutes, Noah is still, and Cookson walks away.

At 13:00 GMT on 9 December 2022, the video goes on to show Noah moving, he is "thrashing around" as Cookson is attending to another child, the court heard.

In the following minutes, she continued to watch him struggle and when he rolled on to his side, she changed his position him, with Noah kicking his legs.

Three minutes later, Cookson put her left leg across the 14-month-old's body to restrict his movement, the prosecutor said.

He continued to struggle and she patted his back.

There was "occasional movement" at 13:08, the court heard, but Cookson pushed the sleeping bag tighter around him.

At 13:09, he was still moving but a minute and a half later, he was not.

"Kimberley Cookson, finally, after about seven minutes, removes her left knee from him," the prosecutor said.

She appeared to indicate to her colleague that she believed Noah was then asleep.

The court has seen a further video showing Noah crying, with nobody reacting.

The footage showed Cookson placing other children in sleeping bags - placing her leg on top at one point.

Noah was again wrapped tightly by the accused with the bag pulled up over his head.

At one point he was given a bottle by her to feed himself.

He was then placed face down and she could be seen tapping and rubbing him.

The CCTV footage then showed the nursery's cook walking past Noah and noticing that he had fallen off the cushion, which she then pointed out to Cookson.

The prosecutor said Cookson replied that she had not seen him.

The court heard she then picked up the 14-month-old, took a blanket from another child and put him back on the cushion without checking on Noah.

Then at 11:27 on the day, he was still there, face down, moving but nobody paid any attention to him.

Cookson saw him struggling and did not check on him, the prosecutor said.

She then picked him up and pulled the blanket away, causing him to spin several times and Noah seemed to be upset by this rough treatment.