Nursery bosses were fined £150,000 for health and safety breaches and told to pay £70,000 costs after a toddler died in their care.

The Casterbridge group of companies, which owned Eton Manor Nursery in Chigwell when two-year-old Rhiya Malin died after her neck became trapped in a playhouse there in 2007, admitted health and safety failings and was fined at Chelmsford Crown Court on Friday.

It was ordered to pay Epping Forest District Council, which brought the prosecution against the group and nursery worker Kayley Murphy of Greenfields in Loughton, an agreed sum of £70,000.

Murphy, who was found guilty of failing to ensure Rhiya’s safety in February and was fined £2,400, with 12 months to pay.

Will Breare-Hall, the district council’s environment portfolio holder, said: “I would like to offer my deepest sympathy and condolences again to Rhiya’s parents, Jay and Shatl.

“Our decision to bring the prosecutions was taken after very careful consideration.

“We felt there was a clear public benefit in bringing the cases to court.

“People taking care of our children must understand the weight of responsibility they hold, both personally and professionally.”

He said judge Karen Walden Smith’s comments in her sentencing statement “clearly linked the companies’ health and safety shortcomings with Rhiya’s death.”

The court had previously heard that there were no written health and safety guidelines for children playing in the nursery garden, where Rhiya was when she became trapped.

It also heard that two health and safety co-ordinators at the nursery had not been given the right health and safety training and there was confusion over equipment checklists.

Cllr Breare-Hall said: “Everyone, from the managing director down to the most junior staff, is responsible for ensuring not only that adequate health and safety procedures are in place but that they are properly followed as well.”