EXCLUSIVE 'I said: "Yes, it's my son. She's killed my son".' Our nine-month-old baby was shaken to death by a childminder who lied about her qualifications, claimed disability benefits and had far too many children in her care By Kathryn Knight Published: 19:29, 2 July 2024 | Updated: 19:42, 2 July 2024 e-mail View comments Gemma Collinge now feels sickened that, in the aftermath of arriving at the hospital where her infant son lay critically ill, she initially felt huge gratitude to her childminder Karen Foster.
After all, she'd been told it was Karen who, on noticing ten-month-old Harlow was choking on a piece of pasta, had hit his back with force and administered CPR in a desperate bid to revive him once he'd gone into cardiac arrest. 'I know you saved him,' an emotional Gemma, 40, told Karen as she gave her a consoling hug. Five agonising days after being admitted to hospital, Harlow died on March 5, 2022, having never recovered consciousness.
It left Gemma and her partner Allen Frangleton bewildered and grief-stricken at how their healthy, happy baby – a smiley boy who loved Peter Rabbit and pink wafer biscuits – could have come to such grievous harm just an hour after they had dropped him off at an Ofsted-approved carer. Baby Harlow was just ten months old when he was rushed to hospital while under the care of childminder Karen Foster The answer to that question is one they are still wrestling to come to terms with today: Harlow had not choked. He had been shaken to.