Spared jail, the nursery chief who revelled in sex abuse of youngsters
A WOMAN nursery manager has been spared jail despite being exposed as a paedophile.
Alison Whateley, 44, was responsible for hundreds of children but boasted about her attraction to babies – even telling one undercover investigator that they were ‘******* sexy’.
The case has horrified the parents of children in her care – although police believe none was directly targeted.
Instead, the manager with 25 years’ experience held a video conference with 40 other paedophiles to watch youngsters being abused.
Whateley’s identity can be revealed today for the first time after a legal challenge by the Daily Mail.
She was a senior manager at Bushy Tails Nursery in Teddington, the same company at Hampton Wick Nursery and two other nurseries, also in the same part of south-west London, that
‘Disgusting material’
have since closed. After her arrest, more than 100 parents attended a series of meetings organised by the National Crime Agency.
They demanded to know what checks had been carried out to protect the many children she had looked after since she was 18.
Whateley was caught in September 2017 after bragging about her sexual interest in babies to an under cover investigator who had infiltrated a paedophile chatroom.
Investigators later found an audio recording in which she expressed an interest in abusing very small children.
Guildford Crown Court heard she also exchanged messages with 40 paedophiles using an internet video conferencing chatroom on her mobile phone.
Prosecutor Steven Talbot-Hadley said the app was being abused ‘ by paedophiles to view and share’ indecent videos of children.
The court was told that she watched child abuse videos of boys and girls aged from three to 13 which were streamed during an hour-long chat.
On an iPhone found in her £ 250,000 flat in Farnham, Surrey, investigators also found sexually explicit conversations about children with men.
The court heard that Whateley found men who shared her lust for child abuse images via the internet and talked about abusing children with them to ‘get them off.’
Clutching a spikey blue stress ball in the dock, she wept as she was sentenced after she admitted assisting or encouraging the distribution of indecent images.
The court heard that she has been sacked and is receiving treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, severe depression and anxiety.
Judge Peter Moss said the videos she and others viewed during the session were of the ‘most disgusting material’ showing the worst kind of abuse.
But he spared her jail, ordering her to complete a 30- month community order and 50 days of rehabilitation after hearing ‘her sad family history’ that she had been abandoned as a child.
‘There are complex issues to unravel in this conundrum,’ he added. ‘ It’s perfectly apparent that you are a vulnerable individual.’
Whateley was also handed a five-year sexual harm prevention order restricting her use of computer equipment.
The National Crime Agency said there is no evidence to suggest any of the material she accessed involved children in her care.
Graham Ellis, of the NCA, said: ‘The sharing of both live and recorded child abuse on web- based platforms is a growing threat. Behind every image is a child who has been abused or is still being abused and their protection is at the centre of everything we do.’
Bushy Tails Nursery said: ‘We recognise the significant impact that events such as this can have on individuals and families.
‘We are saddened by the events and welcome the conclusion of the National Crime Agency’s investigation.’