By Anthony France

Copyright standard

A nursery worker who abused 21 babies, including kicking one little boy in the face and stepping on his shoulder, has been jailed for eight years.

Roksana Lecka, 22, showed “horrendous cruelty” in her appalling treatment of infants over a six month period at £23,000-a-year Riverside Nursery in Twickenham, south west London.

Footage from a police interview shows Lecka being confronted with CCTV evidence of her repeatedly pinching and hitting children aged between 10 months and two-years-old.

Polish-born Lecka is seen fiddling with her hair and looking disinterested as she is told a boy appears to be crying on his mattress.

A female police officer then abruptly stops the grilling to ask: “Sorry, am I boring you?”

Lecka says: “No, sorry, I’m listening.”

In another confrontation, a male colleague challenges the attacker over her lack of empathy and remorse during “no comment” interviews, adding: “You are effectively abusing children and you have got nothing say.

“I’ve just never seen anything like it.”

Kingston Crown Court heard Lecka shoved babies to the floor, pulled their hair, kicked them in the face and blew vape smoke towards cots.

She scratched several children dozens of times in the course of one day, causing them to cry and flinch away from her.

In one incident, Lecka kicked a boy in the face several times.

Lecka was also seen to push babies head-first over cots and cover a toddler’s mouth when he started to cry.

CCTV caught Lecka – who told police she smoked cannabis before shifts – checking the whereabouts of other staff before carrying out her assaults.

Those children that were able would try to run or crawl away, while others burst into tears when they saw her.

Lecka, of Avro Place, Hounslow, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted of another 14 by a jury in June. She was found not guilty of another three counts.

Metropolitan Police detectives said she had abused infants at two nurseries between October 2023 and June 2024. One of the charges related to Little Munchkins in Hounslow, with the remainder linked to Riverside, which has since closed.

Parents of more than half the children affected are now suing Dukes Education, which runs more than 50 independent schools.

A number had reported unusual injuries and bruising in March and May that year.

Scotland Yard were contacted in June 2024 following concerns from members of staff about Lecka’s behaviour.

Detective Inspector Sian Hutchings, of Met Police’s Public Protection Command, described her as a “dangerous woman”.

She said: “I want to commend the strength of the parents throughout this investigation.

“I can’t imagine how horrendous it’s been to sit in court and listen to the abuse that Lecka inflicted on their children.

“Despite this, they have acted with grace and dignity and even took the time to record a thank you video directly from the children to Detective Constable Geoff Boye and DC Eloise Hand and other partners who supported.

“In this video, they thanked officers for giving their children a voice when they didn’t have one.

“These parents put their trust in Lecka to care for their children as well as the other staff at the nursery did. Lecka abused this trust and today’s sentence holds her accountable for this.”

Footage of her arrest showed Lecka, wearing a brown top and leggings, saying “oh yeah, I’ve heard about that, yeah” when officers told her an allegation had been made that “you’ve been seen on a number of occasions to assault children”.

A clip from a subsequent police interview showed her quickly responding “no comment” to each question put to her, including when asked if she felt “any sort of sadness” looking at images of the injured babies.

An officer presented Lecka with pictures a mother had taken of injuries her daughter had sustained at nursery, described as “big, big red marks and bruises to her back”.

Lecka, wearing a grey hoodie, responded “no comment” when asked if she caused the marks and again when the officer said: “When I go through and watch the footage am I going to see you touching her back and grabbing her back?”

The officer then asked: “Roksana, how does that make you feel, seeing injury photos on a baby? Because for me, I find that really difficult to look at, seeing clear marks on a little baby. How does that make you feel?”

Again when asked “do you feel any sort of sadness about that?” and “or do you just not care?”, Lecka replied “no comment”.

Jemma Till, a lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said: “The families we represent are not only deeply shocked but also traumatised by what their children have endured.

“This is sadly yet another devastating case where children have suffered at the hands of someone in a position of trust.

“Whilst Lecka’s actions have been stopped, the consequences of those actions are likely to affect families for many years. Nothing can undo what has happened but it’s now vital that lessons are learned, and where appropriate, measures introduced to prevent other children being harmed.

“In the meantime, we’re focused on supporting the families and helping them come to terms with Lecka’s dreadful actions.”

Gemma Burns, of the Crown Prosecution Service, added: “Lecka repeatedly showed exceptional cruelty in her appalling treatment of these babies. No parent should have to fear leaving their child in the care of professionals, but the sheer scale of her abuse is staggering.

“Lecka was placed in a position of trust and her job required her to provide safety and protection. Instead, she kicked, scratched, and pinched these young children, with this vile abuse of vulnerable victims continuing for many months.”

On Friday, Lecka was sentenced to eight years in prison and barred from working with children.