Nursery worker admits rape of toddler

A PAEDOPHILE nursery worker has admitted raping a toddler in his care and grooming more than 20 other girls online.

Paul Anthony Wilson, 20, pleaded guilty to two counts of oral rape, and 45 charges of making and distributing indecent images and inciting youngsters to engage in sexual activity on the internet.

The rape offence emerged when police investigating the grooming offences raided his flat and found images of the abuse of the toddler at the Little Stars Nursery in Birmingham.

Dressed in a white T-shirt and blue jeans, Wilson pleaded guilty at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday to 47 charges.

It took more than 30 minutes to put the charges to the unshaven defendant, who hung his head in shame, only looking up to enter each plea.

Remanding him in custody, Judge William Davis said it was highly likely an indeterminate life sentence would be imposed when he is sentenced in July.

“The public have to be protected from you.”

The case was not opened yesterday, but the facts were outlined at previous hearings.

During one at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on April 7, a district judge was told the grooming charges related to a total of 22 girls aged between 12 and 15.

Marni Chimba, prosecuting, told the lower court Wilson, of Newbold Croft, Nechells, Birmingham, used multiple identities to befriend the girls on chatlogs and social networking sites, even pretending sometimes to be a previous victim.

The prosecutor said: “Some of the aliases were female names and he also pretended to be the complainants, encouraging others to send their movies to him.”

Chimba said some victims were directed to expose themselves using webcams. Others were filmed and recorded performing and taking part in sexual acts.

Wilson also distributed indecent images and threatened some of the children that he would show images he had already captured to their friends or parents

One victim said she felt shocked, violated and ashamed. The girl, who cannot be named, also disclosed her “pure hatred” for Wilson who, after pressuring her into exposing herself via a webcam, threatened to distribute the images if she refused to follow his orders.

“It was the choice of carrying on doing this — which I just did not want to do — or going through a few months of total humiliation from these images,” she said.

Her mother warned other parents to monitor their children’s internet use more closely, saying: “You think they are on sites, safe, just talking to their friends, but there are outsiders who will latch on and pretend to be their friends and take them for what they want.”

Sentencing was provisionally set for July 27.

Detective Chief Inspector Gary Booth, who led the investigation, told a news conference at West Midlands Police headquarters that Wilson had manipulated and coerced his victims.

The senior investigating officer said: “This was a complex case in which Paul Wilson created multiple online identities to manipulate teenage girls and committed a serious sexual offence against a child attending the nursery at which he worked.

“His actions were clearly calculated and carefully considered,” the officer said.

Wilson is the second nursery worker to be convicted of child sex attacks in recent years.

Vanessa George is serving an indeterminate jail term after sparking nationwide outrage for abusing toddlers and taking photos at Little Ted’s nursery, in Plymouth.

George was groomed as part of a major paedophile gang, along with three other women, by IT consultant Colin Blanchard.

Blanchard was told by a judge he may never leave jail for his “deep-rooted and long-standing” sexual abuses.