Jury out in Bromley nursery worker’s cruelty trial

A jury has gone out to consider its verdicts in the trial of a south London nursery manager accused of force-feeding children.

Laura Pettitt, 27, is also alleged to have thrown children about at Little Stars nursery in Bromley, south London.

At Croydon Crown Court, Ms Pettitt, of Thayers Farm Road, Beckenham, denies 10 counts of child cruelty between January 2006 and November 2008.

She has also been accused of roughly shaking a baby born prematurely.

‘Refused nappy changes’

It is alleged one youngster was left with a grazed nose after Ms Pettitt threw him on to a sofa while in a temper.

Ms Pettitt, who also allegedly refused to change children’s nappies, worked at the nursery for seven years, becoming manager of the baby room.

The court heard that the accused kept feeding youngsters until they were sick – and in two cases made them eat their own vomit.

Ms Pettitt was arrested in January 2009 after nursery assistant Nicola Fiddler complained.

She went to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, following which social services and the police were informed.

The accused told the court that her colleagues invented “malicious” lies after learning she was a lesbian.

‘Not a monster’

Prosecutor Tana Adkin told the jury that Miss Pettitt abused the children when she was unable to cope.

“She did not care about or care for those babies as she was supposed to do.

“She lost interest in them and her job,” she said.

Simon Taylor, defending Miss Pettitt, said: “She is not a monster.

“She is just the victim of a whispering campaign of lies and exaggeration.”