The boy mispronounced ‘cucumber’, his family say (Picture: Getty Images)

Staff at a nursery suggested referring a four-year-old to a de-radicalisation programme because he mispronounced the word ‘cucumber’, his family say.

The boy drew a picture of a man cutting a cucumber but apparently mispronounced the word as ‘cooker bomb’.

As a result staff at the Luton nursery told the boy’s mother and allegedly suggested a de-radicalisation scheme called Channel.

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The case was instead sent to a police and social services panel instead. It decided not to take further action.


‘[The member of staff] kept saying it was this one picture of the man cutting the cucumber….which she said to me is a ‘cooker bomb’, and I was baffled,’ the mother, who has asked not to be identified, told the BBC.



‘I haven’t done anything wrong… It was a horrible day.’

She added that she feared her children would be taken away from her.

Since July, teachers and public service workers have had a legal obligation to report any concerns of extremist behaviour to the authorities.

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