Parents of nursery abuse victims "should get choice"

LONDON (Reuters) - Parents whose children might have been abused by nursery worker Vanessa George should be able to choose to know if their children were among her victims, a judge said on Friday.

George, 39, and her co-defendants Angela Allen, 39, and Colin Blanchard, 38, pleaded guilty last month to a string of charges of sexual assault and making and distributing indecent images.

George's lawyer Nicolas Gerasimidis successfully applied at Bristol Crown Court on Friday for the trio's sentencing to be delayed to give time for more material to be gathered.

Last month, Mr Justice John Royce called on George, who worked at Little Ted's Day Care Unit in Plymouth, to co-operate with police in identifying all the abuse victims in the photographs.

Last week, it emerged George had finally revealed a list of children's names to Devon and Cornwall Police, the Press Association reported.

"If parents want to find out whether their child has been abused, then they should be in a position to do so," the judge Justice Royce said.

"If they don't want to know, and I fully understand why some parents should not want to know, then the information should not be thrust upon them. It should be a parental choice."

George, a married mother of two, admitted seven sexual assaults and six counts of distributing and making indecent pictures of children.

Blanchard, from Greater Manchester, pleaded guilty to 17 child pornography counts and two sexual assaults on children.