Tottington childminder Andrea Ward, 62, was discovered by chance to have left one of the three infants, unaccompanied, at her home strapped into a car seat for around 25 minutes.
Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard how a police investigation revealed she had in fact left three different youngsters on their own at various times.
In the first of several victim impact statements, the dad of one of the children said: “To have left him alone, restrained in a car seat is the stuff of nightmares.”
He added: “He will know that he was left alone, with no one there to answer his cries.”
The case was heard at Minshull Street Crown Court (Image: Anthony Moss) Ward was discovered to have left the infant alone purely by chance when his mum noticed that she was taking another group of children out on the morning of January 2024.
The mum then noticed that her son, who she had entrusted to Ward’s care, was not with them.
The childminder then lied that the boy was being taken care of at her home by her daughter, but only admitted later that this was not true and that he had in fact been left there alone.
The dad said: “It was a mother’s gut that acted to take him into her arms instantly and out of the house.”
He added: “Our precious child has been left alone in a house, isolated with a dog present.”
Prosecutor Lisa Boocock told the court how a police investigation revealed that Ward had behaved similarly with two other children.
The investigation also uncovered how Ward had falsified some of her records.
The court also heard from the mum of another of the infants who said, at first, she had been led to believe Ward had simply made a one-off mistake.
But she then discovered “it wasn’t the first time or the first child”.
She added: “While Andrea was playing the victim she knew that she had done the same thing with our child.”
She added: “The fear and sadness in our child’s eye morning after morning at those drop-offs is going to stick with us for life.”
The mum also questioned what else may have been hidden behind the falsified record books Ward had made.
She said: “Where did she take the children when she was lying in her record books? These are questions that we will never have the answer to.”
The mum of the third infant then took to the witness box where she told the court she believed Ward was “selfish and has put money before children”.
She said that she had first tried to offer Ward sympathy before discovering she had left several children on their own, including her son.
She said: “That’s what breaks my heart the most, he would have been sat there on his own screaming.”
She added: “All I can think of is that you Andrea lied to my face to try and downplay what you had done.”
Brought before the magistrates court, Ward, of Bury Road, Tottington, pleaded guilty to three counts of causing assault, ill treatment, neglect or abandonment as a child.
Daniel Calder, defending, said that Ward deserved credit for her guilty plea and told the court she was of previous good character with nearly 30 years of experience as a childminder.
He told the court that Ward had shown sincere and genuine remorse and had previously had a “glowing reputation in the local community”.
Mr Calder said: “Her reputation, she recognises, is in tatters.”
He added: “She describes being spat at in the street.”
Mr Calder told the court that Ward recognised that she was never going to work with children again and that she wanted to apologise to the children and parents.
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Judge Jason Macadam, who had earlier described the families as “model parents”, reminded the court of how betrayed they felt.
He said: “These parents are right to feel betrayed, you came to them highly recommended and these are responsible, hardworking people.”
Judge Macadam said that Ward appeared to have enjoyed working with children “but let’s make no bones about it, you were financially rewarded for it”.
He sentenced Ward to 12 months in prison, suspended for 24 months and ordered her to complete 200 hours of unpaid work and to pay £150 costs.
