Watch little Cain Trainor talking about the route he took home (above)
The mum of the three-year-old boy who walked home alone from playgroup today relived the terrifying moment she learned her son had gone missing.
Gemma Trainor says the phone call to say her son Cain had been lost on his first day at the Little Owls playgroup was the “worst moment of my life.”
In the 40 agonising minutes he was missing, little Cain somehow negotiated the 1.5-mile route to find his way home.
Despite suffering every parent’s worst nightmare, Gemma says she still wants him to attend Little Owls after being reassured by its response to the drama and the tighter procedures it plans to put in place.
Gemma, of Ainsdale Way, Saltersgill, said the horrifying phone call she received as she drove home on the afternoon of Tuesday, February 3 began “a few minutes of total panic”.
She raced to the playgroup, which is on the same grounds as Newham Bridge Primary School on Cayton Drive, Acklam, where Cain had spent the afternoon in the nursery, to find distraught staff in tears.
Incredibly, the youngster had walked home alone - following a route he barely knew and oblivious to the panic behind him.
Gemma, who works for Cleveland Housing Advice Centre, said: “I had no reception on my phone but when I got outside, I saw the school and Little Owls had been trying to call me several times.
“They started the conversation with something like: ‘I don’t want to worry you, but we seem to have lost Cain.’
“I felt sick - there aren’t words to describe that feeling of something terrible happening which is totally out of your control.
“I rushed to the school and when I got there, they were all in tears.
“The headteacher came running over, saying they didn’t know what had happened.
"Then within seconds, I got a phone call from my next door neighbour saying Cain had arrived home. I burst into tears with relief.”
Cain had only just transferred to Little Owls from a previous nursery.
“We moved him because it’s on the grounds of the school, it was cheaper, he likes it, his little best friend goes there - it all made sense really,” Gemma said.
Cain went missing at 3.20pm during the changeover from the school nursery to the Little Owls after-school session.
Mum-of-two Gemma, 31, said: “Most kids would have cried or screamed, but it looks like he’s just thought ‘I can’t find who I’m meant to be with, I know where I want to go, so I’ll go’.”
She says the “Devil’s Bridge” route Cain chose - a mix of roads, cycle paths and woodland - is one he is barely familiar with, only using it during summer bike rides with his dad, maintenance engineer Ross Trainor.
“In a funny way, I’m actually quite proud that he managed to find his way home," Gemma said.
“We’ve talked to him about ‘stranger danger’ but I was surprised he went that way because we hardly ever go there.
"We’ve told him not go down there in case there are 'mucky misters' around.
“When I got back from the school, the first thing he told me was ‘I used the lollipop lady’.
Google 
Cain Trainor's route home
"He even dropped in at the Sainsbury’s shop to see if I was in there buying milk.
“But when he was cuddled into me that night, I couldn’t sleep. I just kept thinking of what could have happened.”
In a statement, Little Owls playgroup manager Kate Murphy expressed gratitude that Cain’s family had been “entirely understanding of what happened” and that they continue to send Cain there.
“We are always looking at all our safeguarding procedures and policies and will be working with Ofsted and Middlesbrough Council in order that we always have best practices in place,” she added.
And Gemma, 33, confirmed she and Ross still intend sending Cain to Little Owls.
“The nursery couldn’t apologise enough and said they would put in various safeguards to ensure it wouldn’t happen again, so at least something positive has come out of this in terms of security," added the mum.
“I want to keep a good relationship with the nursery and the school.
"I still don’t know the details of how it happened.
"The statement the nursery gave said he ran into a crowd and out of sight, but I’m still not sure at what point they lost him.
“The nursery has been great, though, ringing every day and keeping me informed.
"I don’t know what more they can do, to be fair, apart from perhaps getting a few more staff. But I’m still happy for Cain to go there."
Gemma said that what clinched it for her was the emotion showed by staff that day.
"They gave the emotion a parent would have given and you can’t stage or rehearse that.
"For me, it showed how much they genuinely cared - they were genuinely remorseful and knew it was their fault.
"That’s what’s swung it for me in favour of Cain going back there.
“I certainly don’t want them to be slated - I don’t think that would be fair.”
No comments:
Post a Comment