A mum-of-one has spoken of her anguish at being wrongly suspected of assaulting her son after he suffered a fractured skull.
Tanya Jagger was threatened with court action and had to have supervised contact with her 18-month-old son Carter Millbanks Lewis for two months, after he was hospitalised with the horrific injury.
After an extensive investigation, police said there was no evidence to suggest an assault had taken place and no further action was taken.
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The cause of Tanya son’s injury still remains unexplained. Tanya had picked him up from Acorn Nursery, off Green Bank Lane, in Northwich on November 17 last year, when she claims she noticed her son had been crying uncontrollably, and had a puffy face.
When she asked staff at the childcare centre how he'd been, she claims they told her he'd been 'up and down,' and at around 3pm he got 'really upset' and was "inconsolable."
Tanya didn't realise anything was wrong, as although he had been visibly upset, there was no sign or mention of any injury, she claims. It was only when she put her son in the bath later that afternoon and went to wash his hair that she claims she noticed a large soft lump on his head.
After calling a friend who works as a nurse, she decided to take Carter to hospital. She drove her son to Wythenshawe Hospital, but never could have imagined what would happen next.
Speaking to the M.E.N, she said: "He fell asleep in the car and when we got to the hospital I couldn't wake him up. They took him straight to the resuscitation room and he finally came round.
"They wanted to do a CT scan. I was none the wiser but safeguarding nurses came. They took him for a scan and about 3am all the doctors came rushing in saying he had blunt force trauma to his head and a skull fracture.
"They were demanding to know what had happened and I didn't know, I was just in shock. We were taken upstairs and I had to go off with safeguarding and give a statement."
Tanya claims she recalled her conversation with staff at the nursery earlier that day, but when contacted, managers at the nursery denied any possibility of him being injured in their care.
A spokesperson for the nursery said during the handover of Tanya’s son from the nursery, staff did say he’d been upset but did not use the word “inconsolable.”
Children’s Services at Cheshire West Council were subsequently called, and implemented a Child Protection Plan. This meant that Tanya, along with Carter’s father and grandparents were all required to be supervised when looking after him.
“We had to move out of our house because I live in Northwich but all my family is in Manchester and we had to be supervised,” Tanya said.
“We were told we were being taken to court. They were threatening to take my son away from me for something I hadn’t done.”
Tanya reported the incident to Cheshire Police, who carried out an investigation. After ‘extensive enquiries’ which involved speaking to the family, nursery staff and medical experts, the force said they could find no evidence to support an assault taking place and no further action was taken.
Following a meeting on January 17 - two months on from the incident - Cheshire Children’s Services agreed that Carter no longer needed to be subject to a Child Protection Plan.
Documents seen by the M.E.N between Cheshire West Council and Ms Jagger, state: “Following police investigations new information came to light in respect of how Carter may have sustained his fractured skull.
“(Redacted name) confirmed that a strategy meeting was held on Tuesday 17 January to discuss findings from police which provided new information to suggest Carter’s fall may have been seen in the nursery setting.
“It was agreed that Carter did not need to be supervised with his mum, dad, and maternal grandparents.”
In response to the suggestion that Carter's 'fall may have been seen in the nursery setting,' a spokesperson for Acorn said: "The police have concluded that they were unable to determine where the injury happened, either in the setting or elsewhere."
Approached by the M.E.N, Cheshire Police confirmed this, saying: “Following extensive enquiries, and reports from medical experts, officers were unable to establish where or when the injury was sustained."
The Manchester Evening News understands that Ofsted has launched an investigation at the nursery, which has not yet concluded.
Tanya says she is relieved she’s been cleared of any wrongdoing, but says the emotional toll it has taken on her and her family is huge. Despite fearing her son could have died, she still doesn’t know how he sustained the horrific injury.
“In a split second our lives were turned upside down,” she said. “We had to be interviewed under suspicion of a section 18 assault which will always be on our record.
“I could have lost my son. They could have taken him away. We had to live with my mother-in-law for two months and our Christmas was completely destroyed.
“I get that social services have a process to follow, I get that. But they literally went hell for leather and dove into our personal life and uprooted everything about us.”
When asked to comment on the case, Ofsted said they do not comment on individual providers.
A spokesperson for Cheshire Police said: “On Thursday 17 November 2022, a woman had made a report that her 18-month-old child had sustained a fractured skull. The child was taken to hospital and tests were conducted.
“An investigation on how the child sustained the injury was launched and as part of enquiries officers spoke to everyone who had contact with the child in the days prior. This included family members of the child and staff at a nursery in Northwich.
“Following extensive enquiries, and reports from medical experts, officers were unable to establish where or when the injury was sustained. However, police could find no evidence that the child had been assaulted and no further action will be taken.“
Councillor Robert Cernik, Cabinet Member for Children and Families said: "The Council is working with all relevant partner organisations to look into this incident.
"It would be inappropriate for us to comment further whilst investigations are ongoing."
A spokesperson for Acorn nursery said: “A child did attend the nursery on 17th November who was found to have a serious head injury by his parents later in the evening after they went home.
“Whenever an incident like this occurs a full investigation takes place involving the Cheshire West & Chester safeguarding team, Cheshire Police, the nursery setting and the parents.
“The nursery has cooperated fully with the investigation and Cheshire Police have now informed us that they have concluded their investigation and no further action is required.”
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