I was forced to quit, says boss of charity that profited from cot blamed for baby death
THE president of the National Childbirth Trust yesterday claimed she was forced to resign over a row about the death of a seven-week-old baby.
Seana Talbot said she and two other trustees were put under ‘immense pressure’ to quit as the charity sought to limit damage to its reputation.
Baby Grace Roseman suffocated in April 2015 when her head became stuck over the side of a £299 Bednest crib, which was endorsed by the National Childbirth Trust (NCT).
One side of the crib could be partially lowered and Grace had managed to get her head over this barrier, leaving her neck pressed against the frame.
At an inquest into her death last December, a coroner raised concerns about the design of the cot – which the NCT had made a ‘small profit’ from – and said infants who continued to use the model were at risk.
The NCT, which suspended sales after the tragedy, later apologised and said Grace’s death was a ‘matter of profound and lasting regret’ for everyone involved.
And yesterday, it was announced that Miss Talbot had left in the wake of the death. In a message to members, chairman of trustees Helen Stephenson, said she wanted to ‘be clear no individual is to blame’ for the decision to endorse the crib – which was ‘repeatedly certified as complying with safety standards’.
But she added: ‘ After the most careful consideration and extensive discussion, the board of trustees concluded, unanimously and with great regret, that it would not be appropriate for any trustee in place when the NCT took the decision to co-brand the Bednest crib to remain as a trustee today.’
However, this email prompted Miss Talbot, from Northern Ireland, to issue her own statement in which she claimed she had not left but was ‘pressured into resigning’. She claimed she was asked to stand down because it would be ‘helpful’ if the charity could tell the coroner none of the trustees on the board which approved the cot were still at the organisation.
Miss Talbot said she had been asked to stay on as president but not a trustee, but she could not do this as it was against the charity’s constitution.
She said they then received an email from chief executive, Nick Wilkie, informing them he would remove their NCT membership if their resignations were not received by the following day.
‘I and two other trustees were asked to resign from the board of trustees just a couple of weeks before the inquest,’ she wrote. ‘It was clear this was being suggested only because of the perceived tactical advantage of being able to state, during the hearing, that no 2012 trustees remained on the board in 2016.’
Miss Talbot, who became president in September 2015, added: ‘I was elected by the membership of NCT and believe strongly that trustees should operate within the governing documents of the charity.’
Grace’s mother, Esther Roseman, 39, from Haywards Heath, West Sussex, found her daughter’s lifeless body in her cot in 2015. The baby was taken to hospital but she had already been starved of too much oxygen after her neck became stuck on the raised edge of the crib.
At the inquest into her death 18 months later, Bednest tried to suggest that parents Esther and Gideon Roseman had been negligent in using the cot.
The company then sought to blame Grace’s older sister Pearl – then aged two – for the tragedy, by saying it would be impossible for so young a child to lift her head to that height.
The firm finally apologised after a coroner called its claim ‘harrowing’ for the family and ‘unpalatable’ and issued a safety warning about the cot.
A verdict of accidental death was recorded. The ‘ Bednest bedside crib’ was designed to make life easier for breastfeeding mothers, through a ‘drawbridge- style’ retractable side panel which lowers completely to attach the crib to the parental bed.
The Bednest had previously been recommended by highprofile figures including Jamie Oliver’s wife Jools and actress Tamzin Outhwaite.
Last night, Mr Wilkie said the NCT stood by its decision.
He added: ‘ Seana Talbot has made an enormous contribution to NCT as trustee and as president and the charity extends its sincere gratitude.’