A nursery worker has been convicted of multiple sexual offences against young children at a Bristol nursery, with a judge warning he will receive a very long prison sentence, as stated by The Independent.
Nathan Bennett, 30, was found guilty on Monday at Bristol Crown Court of eight charges, including rape, sexual assault and assault by penetration, relating to children aged two or three. He had previously admitted to 13 other charges concerning four of the five victims, who were aged two.
The conviction followed a six-month police investigation launched after the nursery manager, Victoria Tutton, viewed CCTV footage less than a year after Bennett began working there in July 2024. The footage showed him putting his hands down a child’s trousers, and she reported him to Avon and Somerset Police.
During the trial, prosecutor Virginia Cornwall told the jury the events at the now-closed Partou King Street nursery were “every parent’s nightmare”. The court heard Bennett showed a “jealous attachment” to five children and would “take control of them”.
Staff had noted he would sit children on his lap for lengthy periods, wear trousers with holes in the crotch area, and appear “territorial” over certain toddlers and their parents.
One victim, a three-year-old boy referred to as Child E, gave evidence describing how Bennett sexually assaulted him in the nursery’s “toilet area”.
Giving evidence, Bennett, of Corston, Bath, said he was “emulating” abuse he suffered as a child and denied having a sexual attraction to children.
He was convicted of two counts of raping a child, four of sexual assault of a child, and two of assault of a child by penetration. Bennett had earlier pleaded guilty to eight charges of sexual assault of a child, four of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, and one charge of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
Following the verdict, Judge William Hart remanded Bennett in custody ahead of sentencing on 16 March, stating he would impose “a very long sentence of custody”.
The families of the victims said they were “devastated by the horrific abuse children have suffered at the hands of someone whom we all trusted to care for them” in a statement issued by law firm Leigh Day. They are calling for answers on why Bennett was allowed to work with young children and what checks were made.
Detective Constable Bethany Cook of Avon and Somerset Police said Bennett was trusted to care for children but committed sexual offences at his workplace. She described the investigation as “deeply challenging and distressing” and praised the families’ strength, adding that the case caused significant anxiety for other families whose children attended the nursery.
