A toddler was grabbed like a 'bag of rubbish' by an 'experienced' nursery worker after the 'happy-go-lucky' child grabbed her trouser leg wanting her attention, a court heard.

Nursery worker Elizabeth Adeagbo, 29, was found guilty of assault by beating after a trial before magistrates.

The mother of the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the incident meant she had 'lost trust' in leaving her child with others.

She said: 'Leaving your children at nursery for the first time is a significant and emotional step. No family should have to fear that their child will come to harm. It's shaken our confidence.

'They're looking after the youngest, most vulnerable children, what happened has made me so wary.

'It's vital that standards of care for children are upheld so that those entrusted with their care cannot be given free rein do what they see fit with our children.'

Sefton Magistrates' Court heard the incident happened at a nursery on the Wirral, which also cannot be named.

The incident happened at around 9.30am on April 16, last year, when the 'happy-go-lucky' child grabbed her trouser leg, wanting her attention.

Adeagbo, an agency nurse employed via the Teaching Personnel agency, was washing breakfast dishes in the sink at the time.

She said she picked the child up by his arm because she 'didn't want to soak him' with her wet apron.

In CCTV footage from the nursery, which was shown in court, the young boy is crying after he's carried across the room by his left arm. Hours later, when his mum picked him up at lunchtime he was in tears, the court was told.

Prosecuting, Edward Handley, said Adeagbo lifted the boy 'like a bag of rubbish for the night time collection' as she carried him across the room, knowing it was an inappropriate way of lifting a child.

Following her conviction after the trial on Friday, Adeagbo is to be sentenced at Liverpool Magistrates' Court in May.

Speaking after the trial, the toddler's mother said she found out what happened when she received a phone call from the nursery hours after the incident.

She said: 'I couldn't process what they were saying, she was trying to explain that he'd been inappropriately handled by an agency member of staff but I couldn't understand. I just had to get there and see him, see that he was OK.

'I took him to A&E and thankfully there was no physical harm but it was so scary, there was so much going on afterwards too.'

The other added: 'It's a massive thing for a parent, dropping your child off at nursery, you expect them to be safe, you never think they will come to any harm, that's why you send them to nursery, to keep them safe, to give them the best.

'In the footage you can see he was happy and smiling at her. It was at the time when he was learning to walk.

'I remember when I got there he looked so sad. What she has done is wrong, you drop your child off to be safe. I chose that nursery because it seemed nice, the staff were nice.'

Footage played in court shows Adeagbo standing at the sink with the child behind her. He then grabs Adeagbo's trouser leg before pulling himself onto his feet.

The child then climbs onto a wooden stool and grabs Adeagbo's trouser again.

The teaching assistant, who moved to the UK from Nigeria, where she was a teacher, in 2023, then lifts the child by his left upper arm and carries him across the room. At the end of the CCTV clip she grabs him by both arms and lifts him up.

Adeagbo, who had a 17-month-old son at the time of the incident, said her intentions were to remove the 'wet apron' with her other arm, while carrying him.

She accepted she was wrong to pick him up that way and that her apron was not removed during the act.

Caleb Suggitt, defending, told the court how Adeagbo worked at two prior nurseries employed by the agency before the incident and had worked with children in Nigeria, with no previous complaints.

He said: 'Adeagbo is an experienced child care assistant. She now recognises it wasn't the most appropriate way to pick up a child and shows obvious remorse. It was never her intention to harm a child.'

Adeagbo will be sentenced on May 14.