A two-year-old girl escaped from a nursery and walked half a mile back home after an alarming safety breach. Little Louise Hilton was able to leave the pre-school and walk unaided to her home even crossing roads during her 20-minute journey.
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| Louise with her mother, Samantha |
The tot’s solo journey took her past a pub, through two underground subways, woodland and past a canal, but still no passer-by stopped her. Louise waddled back through her front door where she told her astonished mother Samantha: “I have walked home on my own, aren’t I a big girl?”
Samantha, 30, who had dropped her daughter off hours earlier, was preparing to pick up Louise at 2.30pm when she answered the door to the youngster at 1.50pm. Police in Runcorn, Cheshire, are now probing the incident yesterday as her father John furiously blasted the nursery for refusing to apologise to them.
The breach happened on only Louise’s third day at the nursery and her parents have vowed she will not return to Windmill Hill Nursery again. Her father John Hilton said: “It is frightening to think what might of happened had the wrong person seen her.
“There is a canal 50 yards from the house and she always tries to jump in and feed the ducks when we go past but she cannot swim.
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| Little Louise Hilton |
“The school has not given me an apology and I have contacted the appropriate authorities as I just want every child who goes to that school to be safe.” Mother Samantha added: “Thank God she made it home safely. The security and staff at the nursery are a total shambles.
“She is quite bright and we think she’s spotted a door that was left open and she could get out.
“But the staff at the nursery must be more alert, surely there should be more security in place to stop the kids wandering off.” The family believe Louise went to the toilet unsupervised and walked out of a fire exit which failed to sound an alarm.
Cheshire Police said they were aware of the incident and said early investigations suggested “the child escaped after workmen left a door open”. The police have referred the matter to Halton Council who have notified Ofsted.
A Halton council spokesman added: “We have been providing advice and support to the nursery following notification of the incident.”
A nursery spokesman said: “I have no comment to make.”
An Ofsted spokesman said: “Ofsted takes all safeguarding issues very seriously.
“We are aware of this issue and are now working with the nursery to ensure that children are kept safe at all times.
“It would be inappropriate at this stage to make any further comments as investigations are ongoing.”
