Toddlers assaulted by childminder

A childminder from Greater Manchester who smacked and force-fed children in her care has been given a suspended jail sentence.

Lesley Thompson, 52, from Heaton Chapel, Stockport, was reported to police by a work experience student who worked alongside the childminder.

The mother-of-two admitted four counts of common assault, committed on three separate occasions in December 2007.

Stockport magistrates gave her a four month jail term suspended for a year.

Smacked repeatedly

She was also ordered to do 200 hours community service and pay compensation of £150 to each child victim as well as £60 in court costs.

Magistrates heard how Thompson, a registered childminder for 13 years, had force-fed a six-month-old baby by holding her cheeks with her fingers and slapped two boys on their hands for shaking drinks onto the snacks.

She had also smacked a four-year-old boy four times on his bottom after he accidentally trod on her toe, they were told.

The court heard that Thompson, who ran a successful business which had been judged "outstanding" by Ofsted, was heavily involved in the local childminders' association and was a governor at a local primary school.