Toddler died of heart attack after getting head stuck in playhouse as nursery staff chatted on mobile phones



Tragedy: Rhiya Malin died after compression on her neck, caused by her becoming wedged in the angle of a Wendy house window, triggered a heart attack

A toddler died after her neck became wedged in the roof of a playhouse as nursery staff chatted on mobile phones, an inquest heard yesterday.

Rhiya Malin, two, was playing outside with other children when she rode a scooter into the wooden structure.

It was not until staff called everyone in from the play area at the end of the break that they discovered she was missing.

Rhiya was spotted by the window of the playhouse. But when nursery worker Kaylee Murphy went over to get her, she found the girl’s hanging ‘lifeless’ body.

Yesterday Miss Murphy, in her 20s, admitted making or receiving four phone calls while she was on duty with three other adults. Another member of staff, Jade Parker, also took two calls.

Asked what the rule was on phone use while at work, room manager Miss Murphy said: ‘I knew it wasn’t allowed but it wasn’t seen as bad.’

Miss Murphy, who recalled speaking to her boyfriend during the calls about picking up ‘bits and bobs’ from the shops, broke down as she described finding Rhiya.

‘She had her head caught. Her eyes were closed,' added the nursery worker. I lowered her inside and then went back round the front and asked someone to call an ambulance.’

A pathologist told the hearing the girl died from a ‘reflex cardiac arrest’, which can be caused by compression of the neck.

Asked if she could have been saved, he said: ‘The quicker one starts resuscitation the more likely one is to be successful.’

Rhiya, from Chigwell in Essex, was pronounced dead at Whipps Cross hospital after paramedics were unable to resuscitate her.

Her parents are now suing the owners of Eton Manor Children’s Day Nursery, Chigwell, after losing a judicial review earlier this year, with the nursery operators avoiding criminal charges.



Prescient Popat QC, acting for Rhiya’s parents Shatl, 31, and Jay, 40, claimed the legal staffing ratio of one adult to every four children was breached because of the phone conversations.

Modified: The outdoor playhouse where Rhiya died had recently been altered and has since been taken down

Mrs Malin dabbed her eyes with a tissue and clutched a small pink bracelet as she listened to the details of her daughter’s last minutes.

Giving evidence, her IT consultant husband described Rhiya as ‘outgoing, loving and caring’.

He said the girl had kissed her mother goodbye at home before he took her to the nursery on November 7, 2007. Once there, she became ‘a bit clingy’.

He added: ‘She did not want to be anywhere else apart from at home with us. I picked her up and comforted her.’

The inquest heard Mrs Malin had previously given birth to a stillborn boy and Rhiya had been monitored closely during a ‘difficult’ pregnancy.

Mrs Malin said: ‘There was nothing in this world that came close to the feeling you get each day when your little girl says, “I love you, Mummy”.’

The inquest at County Hall in Chelmsford continues.