A childminder given a suspended sentence following the death of a child in her care has been jailed for nine months following an appeal by prosecutors.

Jennifer Franks, 58, was convicted of endangering the lives of three children including 18-month-old Nasir Burgess, who was strangled by a chord hanging down from an air conditioning unit in 2011.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves had sentenced Franks to two-years imprisonment suspended for three years and 400 hours of community service, but the Crown subsequently appealed, arguing that the sentence was manifestly inadequate.

In a judgement issued by the Court of Appeal recently, the court accepted the Crown’s submission and appeal.

A section of the judgement stated: “The maximum sentence for endangering the life of a child is three years imprisonment. We are surprised that it is so low but of course we are bound by what the code says.

“The Department of Public Prosecutions submits that the judge imposed the correct length of imprisonment but was wrong to suspend it, we agree.”

The court noted several aggravating factors, including that the conduct was continuing rather than an isolated incident, that Franks had cared for more children than permitted, there was a serious breach of trust and her action had resulted in the death of a child.

However, the court also considered the delay between Mr Justice Greave’s sentence and the fact that she had served all of her community service hours.

The court vacated the existing sentence and replaced it with an immediate sentence of nine months in prison on each count, with the sentences being served concurrently.

The court had heard Franks had run a day-care facility at her home in Pembroke and on September 9, 2011, was caring for five children. Franks took two of them with her when she went to pick up her adult daughter from her nearby workplace, behind leaving Nasir and two other babies — Midas Williams, 16 months, and Xavi Viera, seven months.

When she got returned home, she found Nasir dead in his playpen. She told police her 76-year-old mother was supposed to be watching the children, but the mother had been diagnosed in 2010 with Alzheimer’s disease and, according to family members, was not present when Nasir died.

Franks was originally charged with manslaughter on the grounds of negligence, which she denied, but later pleaded guilty to three counts of endangering the lives of the children by leaving them unattended.

In addition to her sentence, she was added to the Child Abuse Register and banned for life from operating as a day care provider by the Department of Health.

Sheelagh Cooper of the Coalition for the Protection of Children said yesterday that while she was not a proponent of custodial sentences in general, she felt the initial community-based sentence was inadequate.

While she said she did not believe Franks to be a threat to the community, saying she is likely already burdened by guilt, efforts must me made to ensure that others do not make the same tragic mistake.

“The fact remains that a message needs to be sent that the complete disregard of the safety of a child will result in serious consequences,” she said.