A ‘happy’ girl drowned just hours after her mother dropped her at a new child minder.
Nyla May Bradshaw, 7, was found dead in the Owston Hall Golf Course pond on Monday morning.
Her mother Hayley had dropped the autistic schoolgirl off at a SEND specialist childminder for the first time at 7.45am.
Charlotte Emma, best friends with Nyla’s mother, told Metro: ‘The crying comes and goes but you’ve got to stay strong.
‘She rubbed off on all of us. She made all of us laugh. She was funny and really sweet. She was just different to any child I had ever met. We are all devastated.’
‘I know when you look at her, you don’t think there’s anything wrong, but Nyla has got absolutely zero danger awareness. She’ll run out of the road and there’ll be oncoming traffic and she won’t even know.’
She added: ‘She’ll just run and run and she doesn’t stop running. She loves it.
‘She’s an escape artist, she’s a crafty devil. They call these children a flight risk, but if you give her full attention she won’t go anywhere.
‘The council even put up a six-foot fence to keep her in her garden and her mum has electronic locks on the house because she kept getting out.’
After her regular carer was full over Easter Nyla’s mother asked a local Facebook group for help.
She was recommended a childminder who had got her licence in January and claimed to be an Autism Specialist Disorder specialist, costing £160 a day.
But within two hours of dropping her off, she received a text that Nyla was missing and police were on their way.
Shortly after rushing to the scene, her girl was found dead in the golf club pond.
After the tragedy, the childminder told her they didn’t use reins on her because Nyla had been ‘holding her hand fine’.
Ms Emma added: ‘A lot of us blame ourselves because Hailey doesn’t usually leave her with anybody, she goes to a special school.
‘But the school holidays have come up and her mum was desperate for a child minder.
‘She’d asked a Facebook group if anybody knew of any in the area, and somebody had recommended this woman.
‘Hayley assumed that they were staying in all day with somebody like Nyla, who has got complex needs.
‘She’ll say S for yes, and just mumble and stuff, but she doesn’t talk, so if she were to get lost, she wouldn’t even be able to tell an adult who she was, what her name was, or anything.’
‘The mother feels completely left alone. Everyone is blaming the parents but they were both working hard – she was with a childminder.
‘The one thing that her mum explicitly said was, ‘please don’t take my daughter out anywhere’.
A neighbour who usually takes Nyla in during the holidays has donated £1,000 to her GoFundMe because she feels so guilty she didn’t have space for her.
Her mother Hayley, and father, Kieran Bradshaw, from Cantley, spoke of their devastation.
Hayley wrote on Facebook: ‘It breaks my heart to write this, but today we lost our beautiful daughter Nyla May Bradshaw at just 7 years old.
‘She was our whole world full of love, laughter, and the brightest smile that could light up any room. She brought so much joy into our lives and into the lives of everyone who knew her.’
She added: ‘Our sweet little girl will be loved forever and never, ever forgotten.
‘Forever 7 my girl, this isn’t goodbye – it’s an until we meet again. You have family up there who will look after you.
‘You were too special for this earth. Run as free as you want now, my gorgeous girl’.
Police have sealed off the Owston Hall Golf Course pond after a police helicopter found her body.
