The former owner of a nursery where a baby girl died after wrapping a drawstring bag around her neck was facing an unlimited fine yesterday after she admitted failing to protect the health and safety of toddlers.

Sixteen-month-old Molly Cunliffe strangled herself on a clothes bag attached to her cot at Tiddlywinks nursery, in Gloucester, after she was left unattended for more than 20 minutes.

Last year an inquest jury returned a verdict of unlawful killing after hearing Molly had been left in the care of a 17-year-old student and an unqualified member of staff while senior managers held a meeting upstairs.

Rosemarie Meadows, 45, who owned the nursery at the time of the tragedy in October 2005, yesterday pled guilty to one count of breaching health and safety regulations.

The charge claimed she failed to ensure "that babies and toddlers were not exposed to risks to their health and safety by failing to ensure that no cord or loop was allowed in proximity of babies and toddlers, babies and toddlers were checked sufficiently regularly in their cots, and that staff were alerted to the risk associated with the cords and loops in the proximity of babies and toddlers".

Meadows, of Oldbury Orchard, Churchdown, wearing black and with dark hair, sobbed throughout the 15 minute hearing and was barely audible when she uttered the word "guilty".

The charge, brought under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, spans January 1, 2004 and October 21, 2005.

A second charge, covering the same dates, alleged Meadows failed to make sufficient assessment of the risk of "entanglement and strangulation" was withdrawn yesterday.

Prosecutor Bernard Thorogood told Gloucester Magistrates' Court that all the facts of the prosecution case were contained in the first charge, which was the more serious.

He advised magistrates that a case of this gravity would be better dealt with by a Crown Court judge. The maximum financial penalty at their disposal was £20,000, whereas a judge had the power to make an unlimited order.

Mr Thorogood said that there were "small points of difference" between Meadows and the Crown, but not enough to stop the case proceeding to sentence.

Meadows, now understood to work in a shop, was ordered to provide the court with details of her financial circumstances before the next date. Defence lawyer Simon Morgan agreed the Crown Court was the best place for the case.

He said: "It will not be necessary for this court to hear any more facts – they are distressing."

Magistrates declined jurisdiction and committed the case to the Crown Court on a date and venue to be fixed.

Meadows was released on unconditional bail and left court shrouded in a blanket without making a comment.

Molly's parents Keata Glenton, 30, and Matthew Cunliffe, 29, who now have a daughter, Ella, one, made a short statement after the case.

It read: "Molly's parents recognise that this dreadful tragedy is being treated very seriously and believe it is right that the case should go to the Crown Court.

"They have no further comment today save that it is right that the defendant is being held accountable."

Previously Ms Glenton said her heart had been "ripped out" by the events at the Worcester Street nursery, which has now closed.

Two weeks after Molly was found unconscious, doctors said that there was no hope of her recovering, and her parents agreed to her life-support machine being switched off.

At Molly's inquest last July, Gloucestershire coroner Alan Crickmore said there was "ample evidence" to return the unlawful killing verdict which amounted to manslaughter.

In a separate case, bosses of a nursery in Cambridgeshire where a baby girl choked to death on a piece of apple have been ordered to appear in court next month. Just Learning Nursery, in Cambourne, has been charged with health and safety breaches following the death of 10-month-old Georgia Hollick in 2006.