Nursery was 'ideal place' for paedophile

Published on Thursday 4 November 2010 20:27

A DAMNING report yesterday revealed that the nursery where paedophile Vanessa George carried out a series of horrific sex attacks on young children "provided an ideal environment" for her to carry out her abuse.

• Little Ted's nursery where the sex attacks took place. Pic: PA

The report criticised Ofsted and the nursery inspection regime, stating that inspections at Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth, Devon, were "not rigorous enough" and had rated the nursery as "good" on child protection issues.

The Serious Case Review into the abuse found a lack of formal staff supervision was partly to blame for the sexual abuse.

It also highlighted that George was able to work at the nursery due to an "absence of safe recruitment procedures" and an "informal recruitment process".

George, 40, from Plymouth, was jailed indefinitely this year after she admitted abusing toddlers at the nursery and photographing the attacks.

The nursery was closed in June last year and Plymouth City Council started a serious case review to find out how the abuse was allowed to take place.

Yesterday, the review showed the nursery failed to "provide a safe, positive environment for children in its care".

It added there was a culture where staff at Little Ted's were afraid to challenge George's increasingly sexualised behaviour, and staff had no-one to voice their fears and complaints to.

The report went on to state that staff did not feel they had anyone to turn to, despite the "increasing concerns" of fellow staff regarding George's sexualised behaviour.

It added: "Although George was not senior in her position, other factors, such as her age, personality and length of service could have created an illusion of position of power and encouraged a sense of trust.

"Her position of power within the staff group was such that, although staff became increasingly concerned about her crude language, discussion of extra-marital relationships and showing indecent images of adults on her phone, they were unable to challenge her."

George admitted seven sexual assaults and six counts of making and distributing indecent pictures of children.

She used a mobile phone to take pictures of herself abusing toddlers and sent them to Colin Blanchard, 39, from Rochdale, Lancashire, who forwarded them to Angela Allen, from Nottingham.

Allen, 39, admitted four child sex assaults and one count of distributing an indecent image and was jailed for a minimum of seven years. Blanchard pleaded guilty to 17 offences relating to indecent images of children and two sexual assaults on children, and is awaiting sentence.

They shared indecent images over the internet after meeting on the social networking website Facebook.

An inspection at Little Ted's in 2008 – seven months before George began abusing children there – rated the nursery as "good" for protecting children from harm or neglect.

However, from staff interviews and discussions with parents, as well as a review of the records, it was apparent Little Ted's did not provide a safe, positive environment for children.

The report said: "This would indicate that either the individual inspections were not rigorous enough, or the framework for inspection is not adequate."

Jim Gould, chairman of the Plymouth Safeguarding Children Board, called for the government to introduce legislation to "strengthen accountability frameworks for nurseries".

He said: "There are a range of lessons that can be learned for all the agencies involved, both locally and nationally.

"The recommendations are already being implemented locally, and we hope the report will be used to help protect children around the country."

"We would now like to see central government taking action to strengthen accountability frameworks for nurseries to ensure those managing nursery settings are held responsible for ensuring they provide a safe environment for children.

"We would also like to see Ofsted strengthen the inspection of nurseries to ensure there is a culture … that maximises the safeguarding of children."