A nurse whose 10-week-old baby died after being left home alone for more than eight hours has been jailed.
Ruth Auta appeared at Bolton Crown Court last week (Tuesday 10 September), where the court heard that she left her nurses’ accommodation shortly after 6:30am on 20 December 2022 to carry out her shift at Royal Bolton Hospital – leaving behind her son, Joshua Akerele, in the process.
The 28-year-old returned more than eight hours later, and then, at 3:24pm, called for an ambulance reporting that her son “was not breathing”.
Despite attempts by paramedics to resuscitate him, Joshua sadly could not be saved and was pronounced dead at 4:40pm, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) revealed.
Experts could not confirm the cause of Joshua’s death, and say he was “a healthy baby in all respects”.
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It’s thought that he may have overheated due to the layers of clothing and bedding he was wrapped in, but other potential causes of death “could not be ruled out”.
Nurse, Ruth Auta, 28, left her 10-week-old baby, Joshua, home alone for over 8 hours while she worked her shift at Royal Bolton Hospital in December 2022.
Auta initially told the police that she had collected Joshua from a childminder after she had finished work, and then took him back home, fed him, placed him on her bed and fell asleep next to him, before claiming that it was when she woke up she found him unresponsive, however, police seized CCTV footage showing Auta leaving her flat at 6:47am without her baby and returning home alone at 3:13pm.
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Messages to the childminder asking her to tell the police she had looked after Joshua that day were also found on on Auta’s phone, but the childminder told officers she had not seen Joshua for a few days.
In her police interview, Auta gave no comment to the questions asked. She was released on bail whilst a full police investigation was carried out.
Despite the fact Auta gave no comment to the questions asked in her police interview, she was charged with cruelty to a child and pleaded guilty at Manchester Magistrates Court on 24 May 2024, with case adjourned to 21 June 2024 for sentence, and finally sentenced to three years in prison at Bolton Crown Court last week.
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Sara added “Ruth Auta has failed to show remorse throughout the case; she misled police about her childcare arrangements and then tried to evade justice by attempting to flee the country.
“Our thoughts and sympathies are with all those who been affected by Joshua’s death.”
Speaking following the sentencing last week, Sara Davie, who is the District Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: “Whilst she went to work to provide care for other people, Ruth Auta left the very person who needed her care the most home alone.
“As a nurse she should have known the dangers of leaving her baby unattended. As she begins her sentence, she must now live with the consequences of the terrible decision she made that day.
“Auta has failed to show remorse throughout the case, she misled police about her childcare arrangements, and then tried to evade justice by attempting to flee the country.
“Our thoughts and sympathies are with all those who been affected by Joshua’s death.”
Featured Image – GMP
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Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Emily Sergeant -
16th September 2024 
