Karen Foster (R) was jailed after admitting causing the death of a the nine-month-old. (Image: AP / Lancashire Police)
The mum of a nine-month-old boy who died after being shaken by a registered childminder has opened up about the horrific ordeal.
Karen Foster, 63, had been caring for Harlow Collinge a few days per week for around six weeks prior to his death from a traumatic head injury.
Foster, from Hapton, Lancashire, later admitted she had shaken Harlow in frustration after returning home from a park, according to a news release on the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) website.
Harlow, had been dropped off at Foster’s home by his mum, Gemma Collinge, earlier that day. In a piece for The Sun, Gemma has opened up about the traumatic hours she and partner Allen Frangleton suffered after learning their beloved son had been hospitalised.
Gemma said Harlow had “a rash around his mouth but was absolutely full of beans,” when she dropped him off on March 1, 2022. “I took a photo of him and he was so smiley,” she said, adding: “I kissed him goodbye and went off to work.”
Karen Foster (Image: Lancashire Police)
Two hours later Gemma got a call from Foster who told her, “‘Harlow choked on pasta, he stopped breathing,’” which sent her into a “panic”, she wrote.
Gemma’s boss then drove her to Royal Blackburn Hospital where Foster was already waiting. Gemma said Foster “put her arms around me and told me she’d tried to save him”, telling her that she did CPR and “‘did my best'”.
The distraught mum then says she asked how Harlow could have choked on pasta, as he didn’t like it.
Foster had called an ambulance to say Harlow had stopped breathing and told a paramedic who arrived shortly after that Harlow had been choking on some pasta and had some kind of fit, according to the CPS news release.
She claimed she had checked his mouth and slapped his back in an attempt to dislodge anything stuck, and told another paramedic that the Harlow had just collapsed, The CPS said.
Foster later tied to blame Gemma for the injuries, BBC News reports.
Before Harlow’s condition became clear, Gemma feared it could have been an adverse reaction to a cream for his rash, and her mum “dashed to Karen’s to pick up the cream, so doctors could check”.
Medics later discovered that he had significant and non-accidental injuries to his brain, Sky News reported.
Harlow died from a traumatic head injury, leading to cardiorespiratory arrest. (Image: PA)
“He was on a ventilator, surrounded by wires. It was like a nightmare. I couldn’t take it in,” Gemma said. Harlow was transferred to Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital where she and partner Allen “kept a vigil by his bedside”.
Despite the best efforts of medical staff the infant never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead four days after the incident, on March 5, 2022.
A post-mortem confirmed the child died from a traumatic head injury, leading to cardiorespiratory arrest.
Foster had been due to stand trial for murdering Harlow, and it wasn’t until then that she admitted shaking him.
She pleaded guilty to an alternative charge of manslaughter and was sentenced at Preston Crown Court on June 13, 2024, to 12 years and seven months in prison.
In her account in The Sun, Gemma revealed she was uneasy about how many children Foster had been looking after.
Gemma and Allen had “arranged a few settling-in sessions, for January 2022, and the first two visits went well. But at the end of the third session, I started to worry about the number of children Karen was looking after,” Gemma said.
“She did school wraparound care and sometimes she’d have eight or nine kids and a baby there, as well as Harlow,” and Gemma claimed that when she challenged her on it, Foster insisted she was “well within” the regulations.
“I checked online and she was registered with Ofsted. I couldn’t find anything negative about Karen at all,” Gemma said, but later discovered Foster had been deceiving her.
Karen Tonge, Specialist Crown Prosecutor with CPS North West’s Complex Casework Unit, said: “The Crown Prosecution Service worked with Greater Manchester Police to build a compelling case against Foster.
“The investigation revealed Foster had lied to Ofsted about her personal circumstances and health and that she had been caring for more children than her registration permitted. She had lied to parents by telling them that she was a qualified nurse when that was not true.
“She also lied to Harlow’s mother at hospital when she gave her the impression that she had ‘saved him’. The evidence suggested she was overstretched and in declining health and that for no good reason she lost her temper with Harlow.
“In the end, the strength of the evidence was such that Foster had no option but to accept she was responsible for Harlow’s death.”
Gemma said the family misses Harlow “every moment of every day” and wants to campaign in his name for Harlow’s Law, “meaning stricter regulation of childminders and nurseries”.
“Nothing will bring my boy back, but I hope another life can be saved in his memory,” she added. You can Gemma’s petition here.
Ofsted has been approached for comment.
