Parents can learn names in nursery abuse case

George, 39, revealed a list of children's names to police last week, after pleading guilty last month to seven charges of child abuse and six charges of taking indecent images of children (News, 7 October). Sentencing has been delayed so that more names and material can be gathered.

It is believed that up to 30 children from Little Ted's nursery in Plymouth, where George worked could have been abused.

Speaking at the Bristol Crown Court hearing on Friday (6 November), Mr Justice John Royce said, 'If parents want to find out whether their child has been abused, they should be in a position to do so.

'If they don't want to know, and I fully understand why some parents should not want to know, then the information should not be thrust upon them. It should be a parental choice.'

A hearing to check progress on the case will take place on 11 November, with sentencing adjourned to the week beginning 14 December.

ChildLine figures released this week reveal that many more children are now reporting sexual assaults by women. The helpline charity reports a 132 per cent increase in such cases over the past five years, with 2,142 child callers saying they had been a victim of abuse from a woman, and of those, 1,311 calls were from children who said they had been abused by their mother.

Head of ChildLine Sue Minto said, 'Most sex abuse calls come from girls saying they were assaulted by a male. But a growing number of callers now say they were sexually abused by a female. This may be partly because more boys are calling us than previously.

'Many would find it shocking that any woman, let alone a mother, can sexually assault a child. But they do.'