British nursery worker admits sexually abusing children

Thursday, October 1, 2009

A British nursery worker, Vanessa George, and two other people, Angela Allen and Colin Blanchard, have been convicted, in Bristol Crown Court, of sexually abusing minors and sharing the pictures online.

	horriffic and devilish... the most serious level you could imagine
—Adrian Pearson

Each person recorded images on their mobile phones, and shared them with each of the other two via email and text. Detective Superintendent Adrian Pearson of Nottinghamshire Police called this behaviour "horrific and devilish", saying, "Those three individuals have shared quite willingly and freely images, texts, fantasies of the most serious level you could imagine."

The three people, who met on social networking website Facebook, had never seen each other in real life until they attended court. Allen wept in the dock, while co-accused George hung her head. Blanchard—who has been on the Sex Offenders Register for five years previously—however, showed no reaction.

Vanessa George pleaded guilty to thirteen charges, including one count of sexual assault. Allen admitted four counts of sexual assault and one of distributing inappropriate images, and Blanchard nineteen charges, including seventeen of sexual assault, and a further charge of possessing extreme pornography. George refuses to identify which of the children on the police's thirty-strong shortlist she attacked. The three have yet to be sentenced, and the crime carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

George, aged 39, a mother of two teenage daughters from Plymouth, Devon, had worked for Little Ted's Nursery for three years, and in the childcare industry for 10 years. Blanchard, 38, from Smallbridge, Greater Manchester was an IT technician, and had a rocky relationship with his wife of 16 years. Allen, 39, lived in Nottingham, and says she has had an online relationship with Blanchard.

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Sources

"Nursery worker admits sex abuse" — BBC News Online, 1 October, 2009
Sarah White and Dan Bell. "Spotlight on trio of child abusers" — BBC News Online, 1 October, 2009
Steven Morris and Adam Gabbatt. "Nursery worker Vanessa George pleads guilty to sexually abusing children" — guardian.co.uk, 1 October, 2009
Nigel Bunyan and Richard Savill. "Nursery worker Vanessa George: judge asks her to reveal identities of victims" — The Daily Telegraph, 1 October, 2009

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Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

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Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.