Abuser urged to name kids; COURT: Parents wait to see if their children were victims.

Byline: Matt Dickinson

DOZENS of parents were faced with an agonising wait today to see if their children were among the victims of a paedophile nursery worker.

Twisted Vanessa George, who worked at Little Ted's nursery in her home city of Plymouth, admitted a string of chilling sexual assault offences involving children as young as 12 months.

The 39-year-old swapped pictures of the abuse with Colin Blanchard and Angela Allen, both also 39, who admitted a raft of similar charges at Bristol Crown Court. They subjected their young victims to horrific sexual abuse.

Around 30 parents from Little Ted's, many clearly emotional, were in the public gallery at yesterday's hearing.

Married George, the mother of two teenage daughters, has never disclosed which of 30 children on a police shortlist she abused.

The judge, Mr Justice Royce advised her to cooperate in identifying her victims before she is sentenced next month. Addressing her counsel, Nicolas Gerasimidis, he said: "Your client must know, it seems to me, who she has abused and who she has not. If I were a parent, I would want to know whether my child was abused or not."

George, wearing a black T-shirt and black trousers, hung her head as she admitted seven sexual assaults on children and six counts of distributing and making indecent pictures of children. Blanchard, from Smallbridge, Greater Manchester, showed no emotion as he pleaded guilty to 17 child pornography counts and two sexual assaults on children. He also admitted a further charge of possessing extreme pornography.

It emerged he was placed on the sex offenders register in 2002 after receiving a police caution for downloading - but not producing - indecent images of children. Allen, from Nottingham, wept as she pleaded guilty to four child sex assaults and one count of distributing an indecent image.

The trio met on Facebook and exchanged thousands of texts and dozens of emails, goading each other to commit more depraved acts.

George took up employment at Little Ted's in September 2006 after passing all appropriate criminal record background (CRB) checks. She had worked in childcare for nearly a decade.

CAPTION(S):

Depraved: from left, nursery worker Vanessa George, Angela Allen and Colin Blanchard.