Southwest London nursery worker jailed for 8 years abusing 21 babies

A nursery worker who abused 21 babies while working at two nurseries in southwest London was jailed for eight years on Friday after a court found she repeatedly assaulted infants over a period of months. Roksana Lecka, 22, of Hounslow, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under 16 and was convicted by a jury of a further 14 counts at Kingston Crown Court in June, following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police.

Prosecutors said Lecka carried out the assaults between October 2023 and June 2024 while employed at Riverside Nursery in Twickenham and at Little Munchkins Montessori in Hounslow. The offences came to light in June 2024 after staff at Riverside reported concerns and Lecka was sent home, prompting detectives to review nursery CCTV. Officers said the footage showed Lecka pinching and scratching children under their clothes, dropping babies into cots, covering a toddler's mouth and kicking a young boy in the face. In one clip she was seen stepping on a child's shoulder. Some reports of the kicking vary, with one account describing four kicks and others saying she kicked the child several times.

Judge Sarah Plaschkes KC told Lecka in court that she had...