*Please be aware that the details that I will be sharing in this post will be disturbing and I will be talking about child ab*se. As always, I aim to be as sensitive as I can be without taking away the details of the case. I can be contacted via email at jocaledoniankitty@gmail.com*
This case is without a doubt, one of the most sickening cases that I have researched and written about. I'm sure after you've read the details in this post (if you are not from the UK and unfamiliar with the story) you will be just as sickened as I am.
I always say that one of the toughest experiences in life, is the role of being a parent, not meaning for that to sound negative in any way, but it comes with a huge amount of responsibility....and a lot of fear. I'm not a parent but I respect people who are doing their best to raise their children in a loving and caring manner. One of the things I think must be hard for parents is the moment when your child gets to a certain age and you want them to be sociable and to learn and develop around other children. That moment when parents may have to return to work and have to entrust their child to a local nursery or child-minder.
When parents dropped off their little bundles of joy at the 'Little Ted's' Nursery in Plymouth, England in 2008, they felt comfortable in the fact that their little ones would be in the care of the 'caring' and 'lovely' Vanessa George. Vanessa was like a big, fun auntie with the kids, she was a bubbly married mother of two children and got on (it appeared) wonderfully with the parents, the children and her colleagues. Nobody had any reason to believe that this smiley woman who would sing songs with the kids, read stories and hand out cookies and milk, could be any way sinister. Vanessa seemed like the sort of person that you couldn't ever imagine her using unsavory language, she appeared to be that squeaky-clean.
However, with a lot of things in life, especially when it comes to people, Some things (and people) are just too good to be true. It tuned out, in reality....Vanessa George was a monster and even worse, a monster in a small gang of monsters. Not to sugarcoat the truth here so I'm just going to say it, she was part of a paedophile ring.
How did this popular woman who was a married mother herself, be capable of such horrendous things? Well, when it comes to situations with women like this, whether it be a child abuser or a murderer, they will often blame someone else, for example, a man they might be in a relationship with. They will claim that they were forced into committing evil acts by their male partner and that they only went along with it out of fear for their own lives. Just look at the likes of Myra Hindley and Rose West, both of them tried to play it off as the innocent victims of powerful, evil men but it turned out that they were just as evil as their male partners and in many situations, it was indeed them who called the shots. Vanessa George already had evil in her, the mask just fell off when she met someone who shared her sick, hidden dark thoughts and fantasies.
(Vanessa George. Picture credit: BBC News)For some people, having a 20+ year marriage, healthy, beautiful children, friends and a great workplace, would be enough in life, a true blessing but for Vanessa George....she was bored. In her late 30's she was looking for a bit of excitement and attention so she found herself online talking to other men who made her feel good about herself, in particular a man named Colin Blanchard.
Colin was married himself and was a fantasist to the extreme, people who knew him offline described him as 'Billy Bulls**t' because he couldn't go a day without telling a lie. He'd come up with all sorts of grand stories about himself. He claimed that he was a millionaire with lots of cars (when in reality he was struggling to pay his bills and had huge amounts of debt), a luxurious home and would be back and forth to Dubai. Vanessa believed everything he told her and she seemed to hang on his every word. Polite conversation between the pair soon became sexual and Colin's interest seemed to be sparked whenever Vanessa mentioned her day job as a nursery assistant.
Another dark secret that Colin had been hiding as well as his real lifestyle and mounting debts, was his criminal history. Colin was a filthy, disgusting child predator who had run-ins with the law and had been placed on the sex offenders register for owning indecent images of children. It's sickening to know that this thing was basically given a slap on the wrist because according to the law in this country, he only downloaded the images, he didn't make them himself. He was only on the register for five years before being removed. So this dangerous man who was a threat to children and a pathological liar, just had his slate wiped clean as if nothing ever happened. A disgrace.
(Colin Blanchard. Picture Credit: BBC News)As mentioned before, the conversations between Vanessa and Colin turned sexual. It soon switched from discussing favourite positions and fetishes to Colin encouraging Vanessa to talk about the children she worked with. The sick bond between the pair of them was so strong at this point that nothing was off the table, they told each other everything and in Vanessa, Colin had found someone who was a willing participant in the discussion of his fantasies and was also so devoted to him that she was only willing to carry out whatever he told her to to.
Like all child predators, there is only escalation, these types of people (creatures....I don't know what to call them), the fantasies, the horrific pictures, the nightmarish videos of abuse that they obtain from the dark web, these only sustain them for a while, they will always want the real thing. There will be incidences with these predators such as hanging around outside a school or exposing themselves in a family restaurant. There is always red flags with these people and all that ever happens is that they get a slap of on the wrist, a caution and not long after this a child is attacked, murdered or sadly both.
With Colin, he'd managed to get away with his actions in the past and here he was on the internet manipulating this bored, gullible woman (who was in no means innocent) into carrying out his fantasies, she was his puppet. Vanessa wasn't the only one that he was talking to online, he had managed to find another woman online by the name of Angela who was also in her late 30s and all three of them would communicate with each other and share their fantasies. Colin had control of both women and they were only willing and happy to do whatever he asked of them no matter how depraved and sick his demands would be.
(Angela Allen. Picture credit: BBC News)I will try to be careful with my wording here but Colin had requested that Vanessa take in a sex toy to work and use it on one of the children, she would also use children's toys found in the nursery on her victims. He also told her to do various other things and record everything on her mobile phone to send back to him. She would even record things such as changing the children's diapers and take pictures. The sick videos and images would be sent to Colin and all three would later share and discuss the horrific materials with each other and lord knows what else (i don't even what to know and I'm sure you don't want to know either).
Over the course of 6 months Vanessa sent around 10,000 messages to Colin which included pictures and videos. Investigators originally believed that the number of children abused was around 300, some of the children could be identified but others were pictured or filmed without their faces showing (it makes you feel sick doesn't it?). Investigators managed to identify at least 30 of the victims so far. Vanessa targeted young children it is believed because they were too young to speak up or realise what was happening. Vanessa admitted to making 124 indecent images of children. I was later revealed that she owned two mobile phones, one she claimed was her normal, everyday phone and second phone was her (as she called it) 'fun phone' which was used to record the abuse and forward on the sickening materials to Colin. Vanessa was arrested after police had searched Colin Blanchard's home computer (after a tip-off from a disgruntled business partner) and found all of the disgusting and indecent pictures and videos which all traced back to her.
As a result of what happened at Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth, a whole review and investigation was done by child safeguarding services who found that security as well as proper child safety procedures was seriously lacking. Vanessa George pretty much had the run of the place and other colleagues were either too busy gossiping over cups of coffee or seriously lacking in their experience of how to look after children properly. The fact that Vanessa was able to carry out these sickening acts for months on end without anyone noticing is really telling of how that place was run (or not run as the case appears to be).
Vanessa and Colin were arrested and Angela was tracked down and had her home searched. When the police arrived they found that she lived in quite dire circumstances and was in huge amounts of debts herself, often turning to sex work to make ends meet. It turned out that Angela was not the more quieter of the three of them, in her messages about her fantasies she was reportedly even more graphic and as well as everything else which was sick and disturbing enough, she talked about sex with animals.
It was later revealed that another two women, both named 'Tracy' were connected to Colin and had also partaken in child abuse bringing the sick total of members of this horrible gang to 5. Colin was always the ring leader and controller of it all with the evil women happy to go along with everything.
The sentences were pathetic but were as follows:
Vanessa George was given an indeterminate sentence meaning that there was no actual release date set but she would have to prove that she was safe to be released. The judge did say that she would have to serve at least seven years before even being considered for parole. This was back in 2009 and Vanessa George has since been released from prison despite public outcry from the parents of victims and the public.
Colin Blanchard was also given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum of 9 years to serve before parole consideration. He is also now back on the streets.
Angela Allen was issued an indeterminate sentence but again she only served 5 years and has been a free woman for quite some time now.
With the two women named 'Tracy', Tracy Lyons was sentenced 7 years (but only served 2 years and was released early) and Tracy Dawber was sentenced to 5 years.
After a reported review and re-vamp of both the services, new staff, training and facilities, 'Little Ted's' has now been re-opened as 'Greenshoots' with the upmost focus on child safety and care.
This was a horrible case to cover and to know these monsters are out of prison after everything they've done. I can't imagine what the parents must be thinking and feeling. The anger must be insane, how do you even cope with that? I have such respect for the parents and their strength and dignity throughout the whole nightmare.
Further Reading & Sources:
- Vanessa George: Practice Review Report | Social Care Wales
- Vanessa George: Article | BBC News
- Vanessa George: Article | The Guardian
- 2009 Plymouth Child Abuse Case | Wikipedia
- Vanessa George: Article | BBC News
- Vanessa George Nursery Abuse Case: Article | Nursery World
- Vanessa George: Article | The Standard
- Vanessa George: Article | The Times
- Vanessa George: Article | Community Care
- Vanessa George: Article | Sky News
I thank you as always for taking the time to read my latest post and I hope you will join me in the next one.
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Stay safe & see you in the next post x
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