 Thomas Egan was five months old when he died |
A nursery where a baby boy with an allergy died after eating a milk product has appeared in court. Thomas Egan, who was five months old, had been found to be allergic to all dairy products shortly after his birth in October 2001.
At the Jigsaw Day Nursery in Browns Wood, Milton Keynes, a nursery nurse fed Thomas a breakfast cereal, not realising it contained milk.
Within minutes staff noticed the baby turning blue and he was having trouble breathing.
Thomas died after suffering massive anaphylactic shock - a severe allergic reaction.
On Friday at Milton Keynes Magistrates Court, Jigsaw Day Nurseries Ltd pleaded guilty to a series of failures under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
Magistrates said they felt they did not have sufficient sentencing powers with a maximum fine of �20,000.
The case has been referred to Aylesbury Crown Court where the fine is unlimited.
The company admitted a failure in its duty to ensure that children were not exposed to risks to their health.
Catalogue of failures
Barrister Barry Berlin, who appeared for the prosecution brought by Milton Keynes Council, listed a catalogue of failures at the nursery.
He said they had failed to:
Ensure that food supplied to Thomas had not contained milk Follow the mother's instructions that the infant not be given breakfast Provide a proper handover procedures at the nursery Train staff in the importance of checking food labels Mr Berlin said it was these failures which had led to Thomas's death.
Staff told of allergy
He said the company operated 36 nurseries across the country, employing 950 people and was involved in the care of 4,000 children.
Early last year Thomas mother Wendy Egan, of Old Farm Park, Milton Keynes, sought out a day nursery for her son and, during meetings with Jigsaw staff, told them of her son's allergy.
Despite that, on 11 April last year soon, Thomas was fed Farley's Sunrise Breakfast Cereal.
The nursery nurse who fed him did not check the label and did not spot that the ingredients contained dried milk.
In a statement read out in court, Mike McKechnie, the chief executive of Jigsaw, said "The thoughts of my team and myself are for Mr and Mrs Egan, whose loss goes beyond the imaginable."
He said the Jigsaw workforce was a group of passionately committed people who he said had lived through "their own hell - the hell of having your own self-belief and self-worth torn apart".
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The thoughts of my team and myself are for Mr and Mrs Egan, whose loss goes beyond the imaginable 
