The decision to go with that childminder has ended in the tragic death of a baby. It's a dilemma for all parents everywhere

Detective Inspector Nick Scola

"Nothing will bring Joshua back, but we hope lessons have been learned so no other family will have to go through what we have."

Joshua's mother, Libby Osborne, a 38-year-old computer expert, wept silently during Bayfield's sentencing.

She sat next to her 44-year-old husband to hear how in 1986 Bayfield had been acquitted of causing actual bodily harm to a two-year-old girl in her care.

Bayfield had been a childminder for 25 years and was looking after six children at various times in the day.

A report into Bayfield's case, commissioned by Croydon Council and chaired by an NSPCC official, has recommended far more stringent records should made of a carer's history.

However, Detective Inspector Nick Scola, the investigating officer, said whatever changes are made, it will be too late for Joshua.

Linda Bayfield: "fit of temper"

"It is a sad, tragic incident that a child has been left in the care of a childminder with all the trust that that entails," he said.

"But the result of that decision to go with that childminder has ended in the tragic death of that baby. It's a dilemma for all parents everywhere."

Speaking about Mr and Mrs Osborne, he said: "Throughout the trial they have acted with great courage and dignity."

The court was told Joshua, who was teething, did not appear to bond with Bayfield during the five weeks she looked after him.

Nicholas Loraine-Smith, prosecuting at the trial, said Bayfield suffered from asthma, arthritis, chronic back pain and a skin allergy.

Joshua died six days after the shaking incident.

But Mr Loraine-Smith told the jury: "She shook him not because she was trying to help him to breathe, but because she was reacting in an extreme manner to some aspect of Joshua's behaviour that had angered her that morning.

Complaints logged

"Whether it was crying or something else, we will probably never know."

In mitigation, David Bate QC said his client has so far felt unable to express her sorrow to Joshua's parents.

He said: "For the rest of her days she will bear the fact that she has caused the death of a baby that she loved."

But sentencing Bayfield, the judge, the Common Serjeant of London, Judge Peter Beaumont, said: 'The jury's verdict means that they were sure that you killed Joshua by shaking him in a fit of temper.

'The sentence that I must pass in consequence is to be loyal to the verdict."

The NSPCC report into the case recommends that in future all complaints about childminders and their outcome should be logged on file and made available to parents.

Also, annual inspection reports on childminders should be made available to parents.