Police hold teenage boy as nursery shuts in ‘sex attacks’ probe
POLICE were last night probing claims of a series of sexual offences against up to 12 children at a nursery.
A male employee, thought to be in his teens, was arrested after a child told their parents about an alleged serious assault.
Police have reviewed over 250 hours of CCTV footage from the nursery and contacted more than 100 families. It is understood there could be up to 12 victims aged between two and five.
Inspectors Ofsted suspended the licence of Jack and Jill Childcare in Torquay, Devon, last month in the wake of the police investigation. Up to 52 children aged up to five years normally attend the nursery.
Acting Detective Chief Inspector James Stock said: ‘On July 29 police received an allegation of a serious sexual assault at Jack and Jill Childcare in Torquay. A suspect was arrested on the same date and later released on police bail with strict conditions. As part of this, over 250 hours of CCTV from within Jack and Jill Childcare have been reviewed.
‘A number of children aged two years and over have been identified as potential victims of further contact offences. We have now contacted all parents and guardians of children who attended Jack and Jill Childcare in relation to our investigation.
Specialist officers from the public protection unit and our colleagues from social services have visited the parents and guardians of those children we believe may be victims.
‘They will continue to receive multi-agency support in the coming days, weeks and months. The contact appears to be limited to within the nursery setting over a limited period of time and are the actions of one individual. We do not believe that any other member of staff had knowledge of these matters.
‘These appear to be the actions of a lone individual and the offences do not involve the taking or distributing of any images.’ Last night families told the Daily Mail they had been ‘ left in the dark’ and were ‘angry’. One father said: ‘ We heard through a text message last month that the nursery was going to be shut. We were dripfed stuff from Ofsted. We would get bits and pieces.
‘I believe the [person arrested] had contact with my child. As far as I’m aware, there’s been no damage done.
‘We weren’t really told the nature of it all, how bad it was. We were left in the dark.
‘My boy has been there since he was a baby. He’s approaching going to school. He’s been there a long time. We had a long relationship with Jack and Jill. I feel very angry towards them. I feel they failed my boy. How can this sort of thing be let happen?’
Another parent said: ‘There is real confusion about how this kind of thing can happen in this day and age. We feel like we are not being told anything and people are getting angry.’
A mother whose two children attended the nursery said: ‘I have seen one of the owners and they are devastated. She fell apart when I saw her – she was a mess and crying. She was saying sorry and I said it was not your fault. My kids prospered there. They were really happy.
‘I had no inkling there was anything wrong. The owners and staff are great. They treated the children like their own.’
Last night other parents claimed that at the time of the man’s arrest they were assured it was an ‘isolated incident’.
An owner of the nursery, who did not wish to be named, told the Mail: ‘The business has been running 15 years. My family started it. At the end of the day I actually don’t know what the
Licence suspended: Nursery Jack and Jill Childcare in Torquay hell is going on. Ofsted have been in, the police have been in, everyone has been in.
‘This place has been like a flying circus of people. The man had only been here a few months, I personally didn’t know him very well. Yes, we were shocked when he was arrested. He was CRB [criminal record] checked.’ One local yesterday said he had reported the nursery to the council after seeing ‘inappropriate behaviour’.
He said: ‘ I was concerned about how it was being run because of the supervision of the children and the safeguarding. We’d seen inappropriate behaviour happening there.’
The nursery’s website – now taken down – had claimed: ‘Jack and Jill Childcare offers a safe, caring and stimulating environment for children to learn through play and to develop an awareness of the world around them. We believe in encouraging a child’s natural inherent curiosity as they discover new experiences.’
In a notice posted on the nursery window, Ofsted said the suspension runs from October 24 to December 24. It added: ‘The purpose of the suspension is to allow time to investigate our belief that a child may be exposed to a risk of harm and for any necessary steps to be taken to eliminate or reduce the risk of harm.’
‘Families left in the dark’