UK's 'worst female paedophile' who abused children at nursery is released from jail

Vanessa George, aged 49, was jailed indefinitely in 2009 and ordered to serve a minimum of seven years behind bars for abusing children at Little Ted's Nursery in Plymouth.

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Dubbed, the UK’s worst female paedophile, George was eligible for parole from 2016, but campaigners called for her to be locked up for longer.

She was jailed for using her phone to show her abusing children and sent the images to paedophile Colin Blanchard after meeting him online.

Blanchard then shared the photos with members of a paedophile ring.

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Earlier this month, the Parole Board concluded that she no longer poses a significant risk to the public, although she is under ‘strict licence conditions’ and has also been banned from Devon and Cornwall.

When news broke of her release today broke, chief probation officer Sonia Crozier wrote an open letter to the people of Plymouth to say: "I share the disgust at the crimes committed by Vanessa George and I understand why the prospect of her release is so worrying to so many people, particularly in Plymouth where memories of her abuse are still vivid and frightening.

"The fact she so callously exploited a position of trust to commit these crimes makes them all the more horrifying.

"She will also never be allowed to work with children again and will be on the sex offenders' register for the rest of her life.

"She is subject to a number of conditions, including not to have unsupervised contact with any children whatsoever.

"If she breaches any of these conditions or if her probation officer thinks there is an increasing chance she might re-offend - she can be immediately recalled to prison."

During George's 2009 sentencing, Judge Mr Justice Royce told her she had ‘plumbed new depths of depravity’ by abusing those in her care.

The ‘shockwaves’ of her maltreatment of babies and toddlers would be felt in every one of the country's nursery schools, he added.

Although George revealed the names of some of her victims, she was accused of deliberately hiding information that would properly pinpoint those in the pictures she took.

Child protection officers visited 180 children thought to have had contact with George, who admitted taking up to eight pictures a day while on duty.

The Parole Board has said that it will consider sympathetically any further requests for exclusion zones, to prevent any victim from coming into contact inadvertently with George.