A nursery worker formed part of an evil triangle of paedophiles who met on Facebook and subjected their victims to a catalogue of horrific child abuse

Vanessa George, and her two accomplices Angela Allen and Colin Blanchard, abused children as young as 12 months old and recorded the vile acts on mobile phones.

All three pleaded guilty at Bristol Crown Court to a string of chilling sexual assault offences and swapping indecent images.

Ms George, 39, who worked at Little Ted’s nursery in her home city of Plymouth at the time of the offences, has worked in childcare for nearly a decade. But she has no previous convictions and no complaints or allegations have been made about her in the past, police said. She took up employment at Little Ted’s in September 2006 after passing all appropriate criminal record background (CRB) checks.

Further inspections of the private nursery by regulator Ofsted confirmed this, and also awarded Little Ted’s a good rating for “protecting children from harm or neglect”. Devon and Cornwall Police said a serious case review (SCR) launched by children’s services after Ms George’s arrest should address any questions over how she secured employment.

Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said it was “hard to comprehend” how Ms George was able to “do such terrible things to innocent children”.

“My department is in regular contact with Plymouth Council who have been offering ongoing support to the staff and families,” he said. “I expect the serious case review by Plymouth’s Local Safeguarding Children Board to be completed as soon as possible.” The twisted trio subjected their young victims to horrific sexual abuse involving plastic golf clubs, sex toys and toothbrushes. They recorded the abuse on their mobiles and then swapped the pictures via e-mail using unprotected accounts, including MSN Hotmail. But they never met in person.

Ms George was arrested at her home in Douglass Road, Plymouth, just after midnight on June 8. Her arrest sparked public outrage and there were angry scenes at her first appearance at Plymouth Magistrates’ Court. She was held following the arrest of Mr Blanchard, 38, who was caught by police at Manchester Airport after a colleague found obscene pictures on a work computer. Following further examination of Mr Blanchard’s computers, 39-year-old Ms Allen, from Nottingham, was identified and arrested later in June.