Trio admit to abuse

A Plymouth nursery worker and two other people she met online have admitted a series of child sex abuse charges.

Vanessa George, Angela Allen, from Nottingham, and Colin Blanchard, from Rochdale, all 39, had never met in person before they appeared in court.

Abuse was recorded on mobile phones and images exchanged via e-mail and text.

Police, who described the abuse as "horrific", are continuing to try to identify victims at George's nursery. The three will be sentenced next month.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls said it was a "deeply distressing and disturbing case" and he expected the serious case review to be completed as soon as possible.

"It is vital we find out how an adult could abuse their position of trust in such an evil way and do everything we can to prevent this kind of abuse happening in the future," he said.



George, Allen and Blanchard met on social networking website Facebook, although it is unclear when.

Detective Superintendent Adrian Pearson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said the trio had been guilty of child abuse in its most "horrific and devilish form".




Nottinghamshire Police spokesman: "The cunning they have all used for their own ends is really, really shocking"
"Those three individuals have shared quite willingly and freely images, texts, fantasies of the most serious level you could imagine," he said.

Ann Reddrop, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said their crimes were beyond comprehension.

"These three individuals each acted in a way which ordinary people will find hard to understand," she said.

"They showed total disregard for the lives of their victims, their own families and those they worked with, all of whom have been left devastated by these crimes."



The public gallery at Bristol Crown Court was packed on Thursday with about 30 parents who wept as the guilty pleas were entered.

One man pointed at Blanchard and was asked to calm himself by the usher. Allen wept as she pleaded guilty while Blanchard showed no reaction and George hung her head in the dock.

She's caused massive trauma to a great number of victims





The abuse began in September last year and the three were arrested in June following a police investigation involving officers from the forces in Devon and Cornwall, Nottinghamshire and Greater Manchester.

The trio pleaded guilty to 37 out of 38 counts.

George, who had worked at Little Ted's nursery in the Efford area of Plymouth for three years, admitted 13 charges, including sexual abuse of children and making and distributing indecent images of children.

She pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual assault which was ordered by the judge to lie on file.

Her arrest sparked massive public outrage and angry scenes during earlier court appearances.



Allen, of Nottingham, admitted five counts of sexual assault and distributing indecent images of children.

IT worker Blanchard, of Smallbridge, near Rochdale, admitted 19 counts of sexual assault and distributing indecent images of children.




Jon Kay has been to Plymouth to meet one mother who trusted Vanessa George to look after her children.
They exchanged thousands of e-mail and text messages containing images of child abuse, the court heard.

Blanchard was arrested on 6 June after one of his colleagues found obscene pictures on a work computer.

Examination of his laptop computer led to the arrests of George and Allen.

No-one else is believed to have been involved.

Judge John Royce, who adjourned sentencing for reports, warned the three abusers they faced substantial prison sentences.

He said the "decent" thing for George to do would be to co-operate with police in identifying all the abuse victims in the photographs.

Speaking to George's lawyer, the judge 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."

'Gross nature'

Det Supt Michele Slevin, from Devon and Cornwall Police, said experts had been unable to identify any of the children filmed by George.

She said George had been interviewed five times and had not given any name, but identifying the children remained their "priority".

"It's clear she's caused massive trauma to a great number of victims, not just the children involved but the families and community within Plymouth," she said.

Detectives have warned there is a high probability the children will never be identified.

It is not known when the three first met but Detective Inspector Tony Creely, of Greater Manchester Police's sexual crime unit, said they "were as bad as each other".

"Blanchard, George and Allen sent thousands of messages between each of them. Blanchard expressed love for each of the women, and they would reciprocate," he said.

"They would discuss sexual matters of a crude and gross nature and the abuse of children in the texts and e-mails.

"All of them were getting gratification from the texts and seeing who could have the worst idea."






DIRTY EVIL BASTARDS. Hope they spend a long time behind bars


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8284192.stm

wjk wrote:What can you say?
They are repulsive filth and I really hope they get whats coming to them in prison.

I'm sure they'll be put in isolation with the rest of the filth and kept well away from harm unfortunately. It doesn't bear thinking of the torture that these poor little tots' parents are going through and will do for the rest of their life.

Just on ITV news 39 year old woman who's 7 months pregnant has been charged with sexual abuse,connected to vanessa george and the other two offenders.

In the 'deep web', Freenet software allows users complete anonymity as they share viruses, criminal contacts and child pornography

This is a massive article so I am posting a link to the rest of it ......

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/nov/26/dark-side-internet-freenet?CMP=AFCYAH

I think you will find the darkest side of the Internet is much straight forward than that very long-winded article. Social networking websites present and even dark side to the Internet IMO.

The paedophile ring


The murderer

The probability of 3 strangers, with such evil intent simply meeting by chance on facebook has to be a billion to one. Think for a moment, who owns a newspaper group, who owns facebook, and who owns a competitor social networking site

Sky News

October 01, 2009

The Vanessa George child sex abuse case raises important questions about female sexual abuse of children.



Both George and Angela Allen were acting alone - and detectives are satisfied neither woman was acting under duress, or being coerced by a man.

These were predatory female paedophiles - women abusing children for their own sexual gratification.

One victim of sexual abuse by a woman is Darren, whose earliest memory is of his mother standing over him naked.

For as long as he can remember he was sexually abused by her.

"It was all coerced, under the guise of love and tenderness, loving massages," he told Sky News' Katie Stallard.

"I almost wished that I was sort of beaten and raped savagely so at least in my head I could say - yes, that was definitely that, that was definitely done to me.

"There were parts of it I enjoyed, times when I would seek it out - the body responds to touch and sensation."

Darren, whose full name has been hidden, added: "It's the emotional damage that is the hardest to get over, the emotional scars they leave, the confusion in your head - the false reality you carry with you."

Behavioural psychologist Michele Elliott has 40 years clinical experience working with female sex offenders and their victims.

She told Sky News: "I have spoken with and written to over 800 survivors of female sexual abuse and offenders, and in only 25% of those cases was a man present, involved, anywhere near the home.

"In 75% of cases the woman was acting alone.

"The reality is women abuse, women abuse without men telling them to abuse, and I think we have to acknowledge it for the sake of the children who are being abused.

"Otherwise they will continue to be abused because we as a society don't want to know."

In contrast to sexual abuse by males, female sex abuse tends to take place within the family.

Women also tend to abuse children from a younger age.

Female sex abuse often remains hidden behind the veil of happy family life and the apparently normal relationship between mother and child so victims are less likely to come forward.

And those in contact with the family are less likely to notice what is happening.

This combined with the stigma and silence surrounding the issue means the result is chronic under-reporting.

The statistics in this field are dangerously inadequate, but Michele Elliott estimates that at least 25% of victims of sexual abuse are abused by women.

Two years ago the Behavioural Analysis Unit at CEOP (The Child Expoloitation and Online Protection taskforce) began a study into female sex offenders.

The results are still several years away, but Graham Hill, leading the team, expects the findings to show a high incidence of female sex offending.

"We are seeing lots of examples of women who have used webcams to abuse children, or who have gone online and talked about abusing children," he said.

"We need to understand how they are using the internet, and how that evolves into contact offences, and by contacts offences I mean committing offences physically with children."

Darren explains: "Women do abuse. I know first hand that women abuse.

"It is going on and we need to acknowledge it otherwise the only people who suffer are the victims because it just puts up another barrier to them coming forward and getting help."

Acknowledging women can and do sexually abuse children challenges everything we assume about the female nurturing instinct - it is the ultimate taboo.

But if there is a legacy of Vanessa George and her crimes, perhaps it is this - that we can no longer deny the existence of the predatory female paedophile.

:: Sources of help and advice: www.nspcc.org.uk, www.kidscape.org.uk and www.amsosa.com

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Female-Paedophilia-The-Ultimate-Taboo---The-Scale-Of-Sexual-Abuse-By-Women/Article/200910115396996?lpos=UK_News_First_UK_News_Feature_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15396996_Female_Paedophilia%3A_The_Ultimate_Taboo_-_The_Scale_Of_Sexual_Abuse_By_Women

'Too graphic to report'

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20091001/tuk-nursery-abuse-trio-admit-child-sex-o-45dbed5.html

Women And Man Admit Horrific Child Sex Abuse


Guilty: Angela Allen, Vanessa George and Colin Blanchard


2:17pm UK, Thursday October 01, 2009

A nursery worker and two accomplices have pleaded guilty to carrying out a string of sex attacks on children as young as 18 months old.

Angela Allen and Vanessa George and Colin Blanchard

Vanessa George, 39, admitted seven counts of sexual abuse and six counts of distributing and making indecent pictures of children.

She committed the crimes at Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth, where she worked.

She denied one count of sexual assault, which was ordered by the judge at Bristol Crown Court to lie on file.

The full details of the charges the nursery worker admitted are too graphic to report.

They describe the most depraved and degrading of sexual assaults, perpetrated on the most vulnerable of victims.

The children in George's photographs have never been identified.

By analysing electronic references stored within the images, detectives have been able to work out roughly when the pictures were taken.

With the assistance of a consultant paediatrician, they have also estimated the ages of the children involved.

By cross-referencing nursery records, they have narrowed down to 30 the number of families who would have had children of the right age, at the relevant time, in the care of George.

But beyond that, individual identification is very difficult.

Co-defendents Angela Allen and Colin Blanchard also admitted a string of charges relating to assault and child pornography.

Allen, 39, pleaded guilty to four child sex assaults and one count of distributing an indecent image.

The unemployed single mother from Nottingham wept as she stood in the dock.

Blanchard, also 39, pleaded guilty to 17 child pornography counts and two sexual assaults on children.

The computer parts salesman, from Rochdale, Lancs, also admitted a further charge of possessing extreme pornography.

It can also be revealed that Blanchard, who was married and had a young daughter, had been on the sex offenders register.

Sky News West of England correspondent Katie Stallard said there had been no suggestion of any financial motivation or coercion.

"The abuse was carried out solely for the sexual gratification of George and her two co-defendants," Stallard said.

"The three apparently first met on Facebook last year, but never actually met until they were led together into the dock at Bristol Crown Court.

"The trio traded thousands of explicit email and text messages detailing horrific fantasies of child sex abuse.

"Often they would share photos of the assaults, which were taken on their mobile phones."

One detective told Sky News they appeared to be engaged in a macabre contest to see who could come up with the most depraved idea.

Sky News has also learned George - who is married with two teenage children - even discussed with one of her accomplices the possibility of abducting a child.

Sources have said the nursery worker emailed Blanchard detailing a visit to a railway station's public toilets, where she had seen a little boy standing on his own.

She is said to have written: "It would have been the perfect opportunity to snatch him".

Blanchard reportedly replied asking whether she would drug children for him.

Police have said they will now never know whether this was pure fantasy, or the beginnings of a plan.

At Bristol Crown Court, Mr Justice John Royce urged George to reveal who her victims were.

Addressing her counsel, 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.

"Would it not be decent for her to indicate who she has abused? It is a factor that I have got to take into account."

The Crown Prosecution Service's head of complex casework, Ann Reddrop, said identifying the abused children remained a priority for police.

"George grossly abused her position of trust," Ms Reddrop told reporters.

"The victims may be too young to understand, but their families will have to live with the effects."

Det Super Michele Slevin, from Devon and Cornwall Police, added it was clear George had caused "massive trauma" to a great number of people.

The trio will be sentenced on November 13.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Nursery-Abuse-Vanessa-George-Angela-Allen-And-Colin-Blanchard-Admit-Child-Sex-Assault-Offences/Article/200910115396963?lpos=UK_News_Carousel_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15396963_Nursery_Abuse%3A_Vanessa_George%2C_Angela_Allen_And_Colin_Blanchard_Admit_Child_Sex_Assault_Offences

fred wrote:And they met on Facebook. So they must have some people in common with each other someplace down the line. Horrible.

That's a point, they must have other people in common, otherwise how would they be in touch on facebook in the first place.

What they have in common is clearly a disturbing sexual interest in children. There are hundreds if not thousands of paedophiles on Facebook, Myspace, Bebo, etc and they are getting caught all the time.

In depth: police baffled by abuse Facebook connection

The “Facebook Connection” is the one aspect of the investigation that detectives have failed to resolve to their satisfaction.

They are convinced Colin Blanchard, Vanessa George and Angela Allen met on the social networking site some time around September 2008. But they don’t know how.

The three had never met in the “real world” until they appeared in court side by side.

Unlike other social networking sites most users’ Facebook pages are by invitation only and advertising an unhealthy interest in young children is likely to attract unwanted attention.

Detective Superintendent Adrian Pearson, of Nottinghamshire police, said: ''The thing that puzzles all the professionals in the hi-tech crime world is how on earth did three people meet on Facebook?

''It is accessed by millions of people, yet they somehow got on to such depraved awful topics of conversation that led to sexual abuse of children, betrayal of trust and deprivation.

''The sheer unlikeliness of these three people being connected in that way will be a puzzle that will go on. In any event those three have willingly shared images, texts and fantasies of the most serious level imaginable.''

Allen and George, who worked at the Little Ted's nursery, may always have harboured paedophile desires, but Blanchard provided the catalyst which encouraged them to act out their fantasies.

Detectives believe he “groomed” the two women, egging them on to ever greater depths of depravity by first asking them to describe their fantasies, then persuading them to act them out.

The two vied with each other to send him the most obscene images, while in return Blanchard made his own contribution by making their fantasies reality too, abusing a four or five-year-old girl.

Not knowing can be harder than the truth for the parents.

Most are unlikely ever to find out for sure whether their own children were among those abused by Vanessa George.

George targeted the youngest, abusing them and taking pictures.

Experts who examined the images confirmed that most of the victims were aged between 12 and 18 months old.

Detectives have been unable to identify the children from those photographs.

Due to the nature of the images they have also ruled out showing them to all the parents who may be able to recognise their children.

All that is left are tell-tale changes in behaviour, which many parents now fear they recognise.

One mother who believes her two toddlers were abused by George said her children had become withdrawn but she only realised why when police told them about the allegations.

Officers gave all parents a list of criteria to identify those most at risk: possible symptoms that victims of abuse might show. She said: ''My children meet all those criteria. They have been showing symptoms of abuse. They are withdrawn, showing bad behaviour and wetting themselves.

''I am devastated. I have to make sure she does not affect the rest of my kids' lives. It has been a very emotional ordeal since day one. Every parent's worst nightmare.''

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6856718.ece

Child sex ring: third woman charged

(UKPA) – 1 hour ago

A woman has been charged following an investigation that saw three other people including nursery worker Vanessa George admit child sex offences, police have said.




Tracy Lyons, 39, from Portsmouth, was arrested after a multi-force police inquiry which involved Little Ted's Nursery, in Plymouth.

Lyons, who is reportedly a mother of seven and pregnant, appeared before magistrates in Portsmouth on Saturday, said Hampshire police.

She was charged with the sexual abuse of a child, taking an indecent image of a child, and distributing indecent images of a child.

The arrest followed information from Greater Manchester Police, who investigated Colin Blanchard, 39, from Rochdale. He was a member of a paedophile ring which included George, 39, from Plymouth, and Angela Allen, 39, from Nottingham. The three will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court next month for 37 child sex offences.

Lyons was remanded in custody and will appear in court again on January 18.

The news came as tapes from George's police interviews showed her claiming to have asked Blanchard to "put a ring on her finger" in return for images.

Transcripts show her suggesting - perhaps in jest - that marriage to Blanchard was a motive for her actions.

George, who worked at Little Ted's Nursery, also said she knew the abuse was "vile" and "disgusting". But George, whose husband Andrew took an overdose after her crimes were revealed, refused to name or identify any of her child victims.

On the tapes, released to BBC Inside Out for the South West, George claims Blanchard urged her to take indecent images after they met via Facebook. She suggests her continued complicity was partly to keep his attention.

Copyright © 2009 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5itw1n-UQtrgjlCOjM35YtH5dPQqg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/8303810.stm

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Vanessa-George-Case-Leads-To-New-Arrest-Woman-Charged-With-Three-Offences-Against-A-Child/Article/200910215404506?lpos=UK_News_News_Your_Way_Region_9&lid=NewsYourWay_ARTICLE_15404506_Vanessa_George_Case_Leads_To_New_Arrest%3A_Woman_Charged_With_Three_Offences_Against_A_Child_

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6310710/Fourth-woman-arrested-over-Vanessa-George-paedophile-network.html

Nursery paedophiles: Mum of 8 Tracy Lyons charged

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/10/13/nursery-paedophiles-mum-of-8-tracy-lyons-charged-115875-21742783/

Facebook paedophile suspect has ninth baby taken into care

December 2nd 2009

A woman arrested over an alleged Facebook paedophile ring has given birth to her ninth child.



Tracy Lyons was taken from Bronzefield jail in Ashford to St Peter's Hospital in Chertsey for the delivery.

The 39-year-old's newborn baby boy was taken away from her an hour after his birth.

The nursery worker was charged in November with sexually assaulting a child and making and distributing indecent images of a child.

Lyons is alleged to have been part of a paedophile ring which swapped photos on Facebook.

Lyons was arrested in connection with the inquiry into nursery paedophile Vanessa George and has been remanded in custody until January.

She is understood to have been traced by a video she allegedly sent to Colin Blanchard, an online accomplice of George, who abused children at Little Ted’s nursery in Plymouth where she worked.

A source told the Sun newspaper: 'She was deeply upset but understood the charges meant it was impossible for her to be with her baby.'

Blanchard, 38, from Rochdale, made contact with women on Facebook and demanded horrific images from them in one of Britain’s most depraved child abuse networks.

Blanchard, George and Angela Allen, 39, who also admitted a string of child sex offences, are awaiting sentence.

Bosses at Izzie's Nursery, the privately-run preschool in Portsmouth where Lyons worked have admitted she had direct contact with 50 toddlers during the two afternoon sessions she worked there in July 2008.

They insisted she had been fully supervised throughout and had been subjected to a full background check.

In an attempt to reassure parents, police said the offences with which she is charged did not take place at the nursery.

Mother-of-three Samantha Gibbs, 26, whose son attends Izzies Nursery, said: ‘The kids loved her. She was a larger-than-life character. I saw her in the playground the night before she was arrested.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1232511/Facebook-paedophile-suspect-gives-birth-ninth-child.html#ixzz0YWbwTmUm

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2754217/Facebook-paedophile-suspect-has-had-her-ninth-child.html

The Guardian

Vanessa George: from angel to paedophile

Thursday 1 October 2009 13.52 BST

To friends, family, work colleagues and to the parents of the children she cared for, Vanessa George, who today admitted a catalogue of child abuse offences, seemed a respectable, valuable member of their community.



The youngsters thought of her as cuddly and her workmates saw her as bubbly and fun, the life and soul of their social events. She had never been in trouble with the police and everyone trusted her. One mother who had a child at the nursery said most parents considered her an "angel".

The daughter of a shipbuilder, she had been married for more than 20 years and had two teenage daughters. She seemed a good mum and told everyone that she loved children. Before joining Little Ted's nursery three years ago she had spent six years as a classroom assistant at a school and also made a little extra money by babysitting for local parents.

It all appears to have started to go wrong when George developed a fascination for the internet. To begin with it seemed innocent enough: like many, she came to enjoy getting back in touch with old friends and making new ones. She even signed up to a Facebook campaign group "Against Child Abuse".

But she also found the internet was a great way to find and flirt with men online. And then she met Colin Blanchard.

He, too, was married, 16 years in his case. His lifestyle appeared stable and comfortable. He lived in a large detached house overlooking open fields in Littleborough, near Rochdale. He loved his luxuries: a television with a 50in screen and every sort of computer game. He even had palm trees craned into the garden.

But he had a reputation as a fantasist. Nicknamed "Billy Bullshit" by neighbours, Blanchard boasted to anyone who would listen that he had a private jet, which he ferried Liverpool football players around in. He claimed he made movies and had millions stashed away in Dubai.

Police sources describe him as a "Walter Mitty character", a "Del Boy" who had eye-watering debts when he was arrested ‑ he owed £8,000 in electricity bills alone.

And it turned out he had a very dark side that came to the attention of the police seven years ago.

Customs and excise officers were investigating him when they came across images of child pornography on his computer. Because he had downloaded the images from the internet rather than made them, he was given a police caution and put on the sex offenders' register. As is normal he dropped off the register five years later, in 2007.

George and Blanchard probably met in cyberspace in the late summer or autumn of 2008 and quickly developed a close, deeply disturbing bond.

Somehow ‑ police are not sure how ‑ they realised they shared a fascination with dark sexual fantasies and child abuse. And George's job meant she had access to very young children.

George began to find time alone with children at Little Ted's, sometimes when she changed their nappies. She sexually assaulted them and used the camera on her mobile phone to record the abuse. She used objects found at the nursery in the assaults, but also smuggled a sex toy in for at least one attack.

Parents of possible victims are angry that George was able to get such one-to-one access with children. Some accuse the nursery of poor management and claim that because the workers were good friends, the regime was too slack.

"Checks weren't being made," said one mother. "If they were then none of this would have happened in the first place. She should never have been allowed to spend time with the children one-to-one changing nappies and that sort of thing."

It was feared at one point that more than 300 children may have been abused. This has been narrowed down to 30 by police and she has admitted making 124 images of children between December and June. She targeted younger children, possibly because she knew they would not be able to tell. Their faces were not shown, which has so far made identification impossible.

George would send the images on to Blanchard. Experienced detectives admit having felt physically sick at the content. The pair would also swap sexual images of themselves and share awful, dark, graphic fantasies. The communications steadily grew and between December 2008 and her arrest in June there was a frenzy of exchanges ‑ 10,000 contacts via phone, text, email, MSN.

George was not the only woman Blanchard was in contact with. In around September 2008 he began an internet relationship with Angela Allen. Like the other two, she was a parent in her late 30s. She lived in Bulwell, near Nottingham. She was not as well-off as Blanchard or George and when police later raided her home, it was dirty and there was hardly any food in the cupboards. She had once worked as a prostitute and has an old conviction for dishonesty.

All three shared fantasies ‑ and the photographs of abuse. Detectives said they seemed to egg each other on, to dare each other to go further.

According to one prosecution source, they communicated in "very crude, explicit shorthand". Blanchard told both women he loved them. Both said they loved him.

Allen was the most graphic of the three. Detective Superintendent Adrian Pearson, of Nottinghamshire police, described her as "sinister and evil". She talked about rape and sex with animals and after her arrest never shed a tear.

Typically George would send images of children she had assaulted on to Blanchard, who would forward the images on to Allen. On 22 April, for example, George sent 10 images on to Blanchard, who forwarded them on to Allen. But it wasn't always Blanchard at the centre of the relationship.

George also communicated directly with Allen. Police say the two women were "emotionally vulnerable" but those leading the inquiry are keen not to portray Blanchard as some sort of puppet master, claiming the three were equal partners.

Not all the parents of suspected victims are convinced. One said she had been told by police that George was in thrall to Blanchard. "She did everything she told her to do and it went from there," said the parent. "It seems he had some sort of spell over her and she did anything he wanted her to."

Certainly, there seems little doubt that George's offending only took place after she met Blanchard. No allegations about her have surfaced from before their meeting in cyberspace. Some officers close to the case believe George and Allen may have always harboured paedophilic thoughts but Blanchard provided a "catalyst" which encouraged them to act out their fantasies.

In June this year, a business partner of Blanchard began suspecting him of stealing from the firm. While Blanchard was away in Dubai, the partner took a peep at his computer ‑ and was shocked to find explicit images of children being sexually abused. Blanchard was arrested when he stepped off the plane at Manchester airport. More images of child abuse were found on the laptop he had with him and on his iPhone. Police later also found images of sexual abuse involving an animal.

Blanchard admitted it wasn't just George who had physically abused children ‑ he, too, had sexually assaulted a child and taken pictures of this happening.

Blanchard showed no loyalty to George. He immediately told police that the images came from "Vee George", the name he knew her by. A glimpse of a Little Ted's nursery badge in one of the photographs led the detectives to Plymouth.

Detectives later found the name "Ang Bank" on Blanchard's computer. It took a week for officers to find out that this was Angela Allen. The pseudonym is believed to have been adopted because at one time she worked in a bank.

When police raided her home they were surprised to find she had made no attempt to destroy the evidence, though she knew George and Blanchard had been arrested. She too, it emerged, was not just a consumer of the abusive pictures but had abused a child herself, recorded it and shared it.

When questioned all three independently said they had met on Facebook. Privately some detectives doubt this. Surely they would have been noticed had they tried to use Facebook to find like-minded people? It may be, some officers believe, that they met in a chatroom and used Facebook after that. They did not use Facebook to move images around: that would have been too risky.

Pearson said he remained "baffled" as to how a supposed "chance internet encounter" led to such crimes. "Somehow they got on to such depraved awful topics of conversation that led to sexual abuse of children, betrayal of trust and deprivation. The sheer unlikeliness of these three people being connected in that way will be a puzzle that will go on."

But police do not believe the operation was particularly sophisticated. The trio made little attempt to hide their tracks and the texts and emails they sent left a trail for police to follow. One of George's few tricks was to have two phones ‑ her "fun phone" that she used to take the images of abuse, a second for her "normal" life. The faces of the children she abused were not shown in the pictures ‑ the main reason they cannot be identified, a common tactic for abusers.

Huge puzzles remain. Where did they meet if it was not on Facebook? Could there be other victims? Were they part of a wider network? Police have found no evidence that the images were spread further than this bizarre, closed gang of three. Software that allows them to search for the images across the internet has not thrown up matches to suggest they were sent to a wider audience.

The inquiry will continue. Police will continue to try to identify the victims, and carry on digging to find out if any wider paedophile ring is involved.

But it is likely that many, many questions posed by parents, former work colleagues and relatives of the three abusers will remain unanswered, possibly forever.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/oct/01/vanessa-george-plymouth-abuse-background

Paedophile's e-mails prompted suicide bid

Monday, October 12, 2009, 10:00

THE husband of paedophile nursery worker Vanessa George attempted suicide after learning the content of sick e-mails sent by his evil wife, it has been reported.

Andrew George, 41, told the News of the World he had taken an overdose of pills and alcohol at his home in Efford, Plymouth, after the police told him about the messages sent by his wife to her co-conspirator Colin Blanchard.

He said the messages included some sent from a laptop while his wife was at a caravan park with their daughters Pearl and Grace, in which she speculated about snatching a child, and booking into a hotel room with Blanchard to abuse her.

Mr George said the messages were sent while watching children playing at the Harlyn Sands Holiday Park in North Cornwall, which had been a family favourite.

One allegedly said: "This is like a goldmine here, there are so many children running free, no immediate parent around, easily one could go missing."

The report said George came across a little girl on her own in the toilets, and later wrote to Blanchard: "I could have grabbed her. We could have booked a room in a Premier Inn and done what we want, abuse for our own pleasure."

Mr George said he thought the kidnaps had been close to happening, and could have ended in multiple killings.

He told the Sunday paper: "I feel dirty and ashamed to have been married to her."

He is reported to have dressed up smartly and told his daughters to go to their grandparent's house after school, before taking an overdose of pills on Tuesday morning.

But a friend who had called with a message of support alerted the police after noticing how drowsy he seemed.

Mr George was reported to have received help from psychiatrists and has vowed not to attempt suicide again.

Vanessa George has admitted a string of horrifying sex crimes against babies and toddlers, which she carried out while working at Little Ted's nursery in Laira, Plymouth.

She was arrested at the family's home address in Douglass Road, Plymouth, on June 9 after images of her abusing children were found on a laptop in Manchester.

Two other paedophiles she met on the Internet, Colin Blanchard, aged 39 and from Littleborough, Greater Manchester, and Angela Allen, also 39 and from Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, also admitted their parts in the sick child sex triangle.

Mr George and his two daughters still live in the house on Douglass Road they shared with disgraced Vanessa, 39.

http://www.thisiswesternmorningnews.co.uk/news/Paedophile-s-e-mails-prompted-suicide-bid/article-1411087-detail/article.html

Grandmother held in connection with Vanessa George paedophile ring

A 43-year-old grandmother has been arrested in connection with the internet paedophile ring which included nursery worker Vanessa George.

18 Nov 2009

The woman from Bootle in Merseyside was last night charged with sexual offences involving a child and is due to appear in court tomorrow.

She is the fourth woman to face charges in relation to the paedophile ring involving George, a 39-year-old mother-of-two who last month admitted a string of sexual crimes against children in her care.

She used he mobile phone to take more than 150 obscene photographs of infants at Little Ted’s Day Nursery in Plymouth, and shared the images online with accomplices Angela Allen, 39, from Nottingham, and Colin Blanchard, 38, from Manchester.

It is understood that the latest woman to be arrested was an associate of Blanchard who was identified by police officers who are still analysing records on his computer. Police do not believe she was in contact with George.

Blanchard was questioned in his prison cell on Friday afternoon, and the 43-year-old woman was arrested shortly afterwards. News of her arrest was texted by police to 33 families who fear their children were sexually abused.

A spokeswoman for Merseyside Police said: "We have arrested a woman from the Southport area. She has been charged with a number of offences relating to the possession and making of indecent images of children and sexual activities with a child.

"She will appear at Bootle Magistrates Court on Thursday Nov 18."

All three convicted members of the ring have been warned to expect lengthy jail terms when they appear before a judge at Bristol Crown Court on December 15.

Police are still not aware of the identities of all of George's victims.

Before trial she consistently refused to name any of the children she had abused, although she subsequently provided her defence lawyers with some of the names, which were passed on to police.

Another woman from Portsmouth has also been charged with child sex offences after she was arrested by police investigating the ring.

Tracy Lyons, 39, a pregnant mother-of-eight, who had also worked in a nursery, has been remanded in custody until the New Year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/6600354/Grandmother-held-in-connection-with-Vanessa-George-paedophile-ring.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8367522.stm

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Woman-Charged-With-Child-Sex-Offences-Following-Probe-Into-Vanessa-George-And-Colin-Blanchard/Article/200911315457220?lpos=UK_News_Top_Stories_Header_1&lid=ARTICLE_15457220_Woman_Charged_With_Child_Sex_Offences_Following_Probe_Into_Vanessa_George_And_Colin_Blanchard

Woman Named By The Liverpool Echo

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2009/11/19/child-sex-100252-25206037/

My God!!! She's a Social Worker

Sefton council social worker on child porn and abuse charge

A SEFTON Council social worker has appeared in court on child sex offence charges following the investigation into paedophile Colin Blanchard.

Care practitioner Tracy Dawber, 43, of Guildford Road, Southport, faced the allegations early yesterday morning at South Sefton Magistrates’ Court in Bootle, where she was hauled before JPs.

The 11 charges are as a result of an alleged link to 38-year-old Blanchard, a former Information Technology salesman who is originally from the Norris Green area of Liverpool.

Dawber, who was immediately suspended by Sefton Council from her role as a community care practitioner, faces four counts of possessing indecent images of children.

She faces five counts of permitting indecent images of children to be made and one charge of sexual assault on a child under 13.

She also faces a further count of facilitating the sexual assault of a child.

The mother pleaded not guilty to all counts during the hearing.

Charges against her are not linked to the Little Teds Nursery in Plymouth.

That case sparked massive public outrage and Blanchard admitted a string of child abuse offences at Bristol crown court last month alongside nursery worker Vanessa George and Angela Allen, both 39.

Blanchard, from Smallbridge, near Rochdale, Greater Manchester, is currently awaiting sentence alongside George, of Plymouth, and Allen, from Nottingham

Dawber was yesterday remanded in custody to appear before a committal hearing before JPs on December 30.

She wore a long black jumper and clutched her side in the secure glass- panelled dock throughout the hearing.

Chairman of the magistrates’ bench Mr David Dixon took the decision to refuse her bail.

The trial will be held at Liverpool crown court.

Dawber will appear by video link at the committal hearing.

She worked at Southport general hospital on behalf of Sefton Council as a community practitioner for some time.

And neighbours, who describe her as “pleasant”, say that she suffers from pain in both her legs and feet and she has recently put on lots of weight.

It is believed that Dawber is from a big family and has a number of siblings.

Her mother is of Irish descent and her father, who died last year, was originally from the Liverpool area.

A spokesman for Sefton Council told the Visiter last night that Dawber was suspended from her role and the authority is co-operating with the police with their enquiries.

He said: “As soon as we were made aware of these allegations a community care practitioner was immediately suspended.

“This person’s role involved assessing adults in hospital with a view to providing care support when patients return to the community.”

He added: “We are co-operating fully with the police and will be unable to comment further for legal reasons.”

Superintendent Peter Edge of Merseyside Police said: “Yesterday (Wednesday) a 43-year-old women from Southport was charged with a number of offences relating to possessing and making indecent images of a child and sexual activity with a child.

“She appeared in the magistrates court today and has been remanded in custody.

“I cannot comment on the investigation or go into any details of the case. The investigation is ongoing.

“However, we have received a number of calls today from concerned members of the public who thought she may have worked with children in the area.

“I would like to reassure people that the woman involved in this case does not work at a local nursery or school.”

http://www.southportvisiter.co.uk/southport-news/southport-southport-news/2009/11/20/sefton-council-social-worker-on-child-porn-and-abuse-charge-101022-25209653/2/

LIFE SENTENCE

Cops want nursery paedo George banned from EVER seeing her girls

29/11/2009

COPS believe nursery paedophile Vanessa George is so dangerous they want the courts to issue a LIFE BAN on her contacting children . . . including her two daughters.

They are to ask her trial judge to impose a far-reaching Sex Offences Supervision Order at her sentencing next month.

George, 39 - who filmed herself abusing nursery tots in her care - is expected to be given a hefty jail term.

But her own family have asked police to apply for the order blocking her access to kids, including vulnerable adolescents like daughters Pearl, 15, and Grace, 13 - even while she is BEHIND BARS.

Toughest

A police spokesman told us: "It would have immediate effect if granted. Whether it is a life ban will be down to the judge but we have asked for the order to be made."

SOPOs - first issued in a paedophile case in 2004 - usually come into force when a sex offender is released and ban contact with children for a maximum of five years. The offender can also be banned from using computers and mobile phones with internet access. Breaches of the order can carry prison terms up to five years. This one-if granted - would be the toughest yet handed down to a pervert. It means Pearl and Grace could have no contact with George at all until they were 18 - even if they wanted to see her.

Last night their dad Andrew revealed why he had asked cops to go for the ban after receiving a letters from George - awaiting sentence with fellow fiends Colin Blanchard, 38, and Angela Allen, 39 - begging for her daughter's forgiveness.

"Vanessa is a very manipulative, scheming woman and I'm worried about the mind games she will try to play with the girls in a few years time," he said, adding that they had already disowned their mum.

"A ban would be very good even though the sad reality is it's impossible to constantly keep tabs on people.

"But I hope that by the time Vanessa comes out of jail, the order will have teeth and that she is properly shackled." Det Supt Michelle Slevin has also written to parents of George's victims at Little Ted's Nursery, Plymouth, revealing their intention to apply for the ban.

She also explained they need to talk to George again to discover the identities of the children involved.

She gave cops six names, but Det Supt Slevin wrote: "Not all are full names, some are just first names. We will need to interview Vanessa George again."

http://www.newsoftheworld.co.uk/news/621118/LIFE-SENTENCE-Cops-want-paedo-Vanessa-George-banned-from-ever-seeing-her-daughters.html

Vanessa George sent picture of her own daughter naked to internet paedophile ring

13th December 2009

Nursery paedophile Vanessa George took a picture of her naked eldest daughter and sent it on to an online paedophile ring.

Pearl George was snapped by her 18-stone mother as she darted out of the shower in search of a towel in May last year, just a month before her arrest.

George, who has since pleaded guilty to sexually abusing children and babies in her care, even captioned the picture with what police say were ‘disgusting comments of a sexual nature’.

Pearl, now 15, told The News of the World of her disgust at what her mother had done: ‘I want people to know why I really hate and despise her so much.

‘A mother is supposed to be there for her daughter, isn’t she? Not betray her.

‘What she inflicted on those unfortunate babies and toddlers at the nursery was wicked, but to then discover she had no conscience about exploiting me, her own flesh and blood, was awful.’

Pearl had no idea about her mother’s double life until she was arrested and charged with abusing children at Little Ted’s nursery in Plymouth where she worked.

She only learned about the existence of the sick photo of herself after police told her father, Andrew.

He said: ‘Our hearts go out to the families of the children Vanessa abused, but I hope people will also realise that we are also victims, especially after the way she humiliated and took advantage of our daughter.’

George is expected to be sentenced on Tuesday along with Angela Allen and Colin Blanchard who both also admitted a string of offences.

Another woman was also arrested over her alleged involvement in a Facebook paedophile ring.

Tracy Lyons is alleged to have sent a video to Blanchard, an online accomplice of George’s. The nursery worker has been charged with sexually assaulting a child.

Lyons recently gave birth to her ninth child while in custody.

The shocking news comes as an investigation by the Independent On Sunday revealed a series of websites that promote female-perpetrated child abuse as 'natural, educational and enjoyable' for children.

User profiles on one website monitored by the newspaper claimed to be those of teachers, doctors and retired grandmothers who list interests in 'young girls' and 'lesbian incest'.

The posts - assuming they have not been made by men - are evidence that female abusers are not anomalies or forced into such depravity by abusive men, the report claims.

Dr Anne Carpenter, a clinical and forensic psychologist in Glasgow, said: 'The internet is presenting clinicians with completely new dilemmas and new questions.

'We don't know if interaction on these websites translates into offences, but while many may be able to stop at the fantasy level, we cannot ignore these sites and assume people won't act on these fantasies.

'They may be fewer in number, but women are as accountable for their actions as men.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1235446/Vanessa-George-sent-naked-pictures-daughter-paedophile-ring.html#ixzz0ZZsOQz2H

Book probes motives of Plymouth nursery paedophile Vanessa George

Monday, February 22, 2010

A NEW book about paedophile nursery-worker Vanessa George has attempted to uncover why she committed her terrible crimes.

Author and ex-Fleet Street journalist Wensley Clarkson has written dozens of true crime books, examining the crimes and characters of people like mass-murderer Dr Harold Shipman, gangster Kenny Noye as well as the intricacies of crime gangs in both London and Spain's Costa coastline.

He said his latest book, entitled Vanessa – A Portrait of Evil – attempted to reveal George's hidden past and a possible motive for her evil crimes.



George, who worked at Little Teds nursery in Laira, was handed an "indeterminate sentence" with a minimum of seven years last December. She had pleased guilty to seven sexual assaults on young children and six counts of distributing and making indecent images of children.

He said: "I really went into some depth on her childhood, speaking to her father at length and other people who knew her when she was younger."

He said he found Vanessa was "probably the result of a one night stand" and that there was evidence to suggest that one of George's many babysitters had abused her when she was young.

He said: "The beginning of the book is a personal look at Plymouth and how the war tore the heart out of it, resulting in the creation of parts of the city which were similar to sink estates.

"I linked that into the development of Vanessa George. Her childhood was interesting."

The book, published by Penguin, includes unseen photos of George, her parents and extended family.

Wensley, who has been writing books for around 20 years, selling over one million copies in that time, said: "My initial view was this was a very very sensitive subject. I was quire wary of it at first, but as I investigated I found there was another story – her childhood.

"It doesn't answer all the questions and it's not an excuse for her. I'm not a psychiatrist or therapist, but childhoods do affect people.

"The question many people have asked is what made her become what she became.

"It's a very sad book and not gratuitous. I'm a father myself and that's the last thing I wanted to do.

"The book does humanise her – but it doesn't excuse. It tells you the journey she went on and how it ended in such horrific circumstances.

"It's probably the most notorious cases I've ever written a book about."

Through a number of exclusive interviews Wensley discovered a young girl who was effectively left with a series of babysitters as her mother – Sylvia Budge – went out each night to sing in a local band.

He said: "Her lawyers never came out with anything from her past so she obviously never divulged it, or they would have used it.

"Her mother died at 14 and her father didn't exist for her. Her gran didn't want her.

"As a result Vanessa's empathy level is nil. She is completely lacking in empathy for other people. She has hidden behind her smile and big, fat, happy persona.

"None of it was real, it was just her way of surviving.

"She just wanted to impress Colin Blanchard.

"I don't' think she really ever thought about what she did. The children were just objects to her, to gain attention of this strange man."

* Vanessa, A Portrait of Evil, published by Penguin, is available in paperback from March 4.

http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/news/Book-probes-motives-Vanessa-George/article-1852805-detail/article.html

http://www.amazon.com/Vanessa-Portrait-Evil-Wensley-Clarkson/dp/014104912X