Nursery worker who abused 21 babies will spend eight years in prison

A “sadistic” nursery worker who abused 21 babies has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Roksana Lecka, from Hounslow, west London, admitted seven counts of cruelty to a person under the age of 16 and was convicted of another 14 counts by a jury at Kingston Crown Court in June.

Her crimes were discovered in June last year after she was sent home for pinching a number of children at Riverside Nursery in Twickenham, south-west London, according to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).

Metropolitan Police detectives went through CCTV from the nursery that showed Lecka pinching and scratching children under their clothes on their arms, legs and stomachs.

In one incident she kicked a little boy in the face several times. She was also seen to push babies headfirst over cots and cover a toddler’s mouth when he started to cry.

On Friday, Judge Sarah Plaschkes KC told the defendant: “You committed multiple acts of gratuitous violence.”

“When you committed these acts of cruelty you would look at the other members of staff to make sure that they were not watching you.

“Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain causing the child to cry, arch, try to get away or writhe around in distress.

“Time after time you calmly watched the pain and suffering you have caused. Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic.”

Kingston Crown Court heard victim impact statements from the parents of the 21 babies during Lecka’s sentencing hearing.

One mother, who took to the witness box to read her own statement, looked directly at Lecka as she said: “These children were so innocent and vulnerable.

“They couldn’t speak, they couldn’t defend themselves and they couldn’t tell us as parents that something had happened to them.

“They were totally helpless and Roksana preyed upon them.”

Other parents whose babies were abused condemned her “sickening” crimes and branded her the “worst kind of human”.

She worked at Riverside Nursery between January and June 2024, with several parents reporting unusual injuries and bruising in March and May that year.

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

She was also found not guilty of three counts of child cruelty.