Vanessa by Wensley Clarkson

Author:Wensley Clarkson [Clarkson, Wensley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: urn|isbn|9780241961681
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2011-08-25T22:00:00+00:00

PART FOUR

Law and Order

‘Heaven never defaults. The wicked are sure of their wages, sooner or later.’

Edwin Hubbell Chapin

12

Every parent knows how difficult it can be getting kids to the nursery on time before racing off for work themselves. So when the first parents arrived at Little Ted’s early in the morning on Tuesday, 9 June 2009, their hearts sank at the sight of the locked gates. But when the police officers stationed around the unit on Bramley Road, Laira, handed them the letter explaining that a 39-year-old employee of the nursery had been arrested on suspicion of ‘distributing indecent images of young children’, impatience soon turned to horror.

The letter handed to parents and signed by Superintendent Dave Sumner explained that the nursery would be closed for the day while police carried out further investigations and included a phone number for parents to ring if they had any queries. ‘I appreciate that this information will be of serious concern to you and it will be an important part of our investigation to keep parents and carers updated,’ it concluded.

Parents, still clutching the hands of their toddlers or gripping the handles of buggies, gazed at one another in mute shock.

One mum whose two children attended the Little Ted’s unit said: ‘I got here and most of the gates were shut and I heard a woman had been arrested. It’s quite disturbing and scary.’

Another mum of a three-year-old who attended the nursery said: ‘I was given a letter and told the unit should reopen tomorrow but I’m having second thoughts.’

Other parents had no such dilemma. ‘I can’t believe this,’ said one outraged mother. ‘I am never ever bringing my son back – not in a million years.’

Their son had first been enrolled in September 2008 and continued sessions there until the nursery was shut down on 9 June. On that morning the father drove past the nursery in Bramley Road on his way to work when he spotted a police cordon. His initial thought was the corner shop had been robbed, but a text from his partner later proved otherwise.

She said: ‘I got handed this piece of paper telling me that a person had been arrested for having indecent images. My first reaction? I just thought it was pretty disgusting. I knew the name pretty quickly. All the other parents there were passing it on.’

Another mother was distraught at how her three-year-old would react if she withdrew him from the unit. ‘He was getting on really well and liked it. They are like second mothers because I am not there. I don’t trust anything right now. This is disgusting.’

Parents of children at Laira Green primary school, which was next door to the nursery, were also left reeling from the news, particularly as the day progressed and crowds of press and television crews gathered outside the school gates. Many of the children had recently passed through Little Ted’s and most still regarded the staff as friends.

Of course, it didn’t take long for the name Vanessa George to emerge.

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