Boy, 3, found wandering alone and in tears after walking out of nursery when 'front gates were left unlocked'

A TODDLER was found alone and in tears after wandering out of his nursery 'when the gates were left unlocked'.

A stranger found the three-year-old crying in a sandpit in a nearby park half an hour later.

He had walked out of the garden at the Lloyd Park Centre in Walthamstow, east London.

His mum said he was gone for 30 minutes before a passer-by noticed him sobbing alone, MyLondon reports.

Park rangers looked after the tot until the police arrived and reunited him with his family.

Ofsted has suspended the nursery.

The boy's mum said she arrived to collect her son from the centre's Grow Wild programme to find him in the arms of a police officer.

She said cops told her he had been missing for "at least half an hour".

The boy’s mother, who asked to remain anonymous, said she would find it "very difficult" to trust the nursery again, especially after reports of a similar incident.

I was trusting them to look after my son and keep him safe.

She said: “I really hope they’ll learn from their mistake because it should be all about the safety of the children there and I was trusting them to look after my son and keep him safe.

“[The police] told me my son managed to get out of the nursery because the gate wasn’t locked and they found him in the sandpit playing by himself.

“He was missing for at least half an hour without anyone knowing. They never realised he was missing until police brought him back to them.

“I heard another mum saying that this happened before and she won’t bring her child back to this nursery again.”

In February, Ofsted had told Lloyd Park Children’s Charity, which runs the centre, to ensure children are "always within sight or hearing" of staff after a separate incident.

The toddler's mum added that the day before her son went missing, his dad had picked him up and found him "all by himself on a ramp crying his eyes out".

"They told his dad in a really rude way that the kids are allowed to explore and the next day this happened," she said.

SUSPENDED

Police said they were called to the park at around 11am on April 22 to reports of "an unaccompanied child".

They added that "no criminal offences were established".

An Ofsted spokesperson confirmed the nursery had been suspended but said they "cannot provide further details while we investigate the matter".

A notice on the charity’s website states: "It is unfortunate that we need to report that Grow Wild will remain closed.

"We hope to open Grow Wild in the near future and look forward to welcoming you back. Thank you for your cooperation."

Meanwhile a charity spokesperson said they cannot release any information" while the investigation is ongoing.

Ofsted rated the Lloyd Park Centre "outstanding" after its most recent inspection in 2018.

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