Vanessa George: What I did was vile
The tapes from George's police interviews, revealed publicly for the first time last night, heard her claiming to have asked fellow paedophile Colin Blanchard to "put a ring on her finger" in return for sick images.
Transcripts show her suggesting – perhaps in jest – that marriage to Blanchard was a motive for her actions.
But Little Ted's nursery worker George was already married – and her husband Andrew took an overdose after her crimes were revealed.
The chilling transcripts have revealed how she became a sick paedophile and abused the vulnerable children in her care at the Plymouth nursery.
The full transcripts, made during four interviews with the 39-year-old over two days in June, document a litany of excuses and explanations as to why she performed a series of sick acts on children and babies at Little Ted's nursery in Laira, Plymouth.
Extracts from BBC audio. Original material from Crown Prosecution Service.
Shortly after her arrest on June 9 at her home in Douglass Road, Efford, Plymouth, she told police: "I knew this would happen, I can't believe what I've done".
She added: "I know what I did and at the time it was wrong."
The transcripts – much of the content of which is too graphic to print – also reveal her first words to husband Andrew were: "Basically, I got befriended by a bloke, who said I wanted you in my life and I took photos of children for him, I'm sorry."
She also tells police in one interview that she "loves working with children".
At another point in the series of interviews, she seems to recognise how abhorrent her crimes are, telling the interviewer: "I'm fuming with myself, really. I am. Because it's the epitome, isn't it? It's like absolutely disgusting."
The officer replied: "You're being very brave this evening."
In another section of the interview, George is challenged to name her victims but will not engage with the police.
The officer asks: "Help the families who are out there now. Stressed, worried, concerned for their children..." And later: "Please help us and tell us who you took pictures of. Vanessa, please. For them.
"As a mother you'd want to know. Don't you care?"
George says simply: "No comment."
In another exchange, George is vague about the numbers of young people she abused. The transcript reads:
Police: "So, how many pictures do you think you've taken?"
George: "Most probably lots."
Police: "How many is lots?"
George: "I wouldn't honestly say but it was..."
Police: "100? 200?"
George: "I don't know (pause) It wasn't 200."
Police: "It wasn't 200. OK."
The transcripts also reveal how she met her co-accused Colin Blanchard and their perverted relationship developed over a period of months – and how he urged her to take pictures.
She responded: "I said 'well, what would you do for me if I done that for you', like joking... and I said 'you'll have to put a ring on my finger to make me do things like that'. So then I did and then of course the more photos you take the more you get back, you know, in interest."
Investigators have revealed they are still awaiting another interview with George to urge her to name the children she abused. However, as the law stands they cannot compel her to be interviewed because she pleaded guilty earlier this month.
She is expected to be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court with Colin Blanchard, from Rochdale, and co-accused Angela Allen, from Nottingham, on November 13.
Police in Hampshire last night revealed they had arrested a mother of eight who allegedly had regular contact with Colin Blanchard.
Tracy Lyons, 39, from Portsmouth, was arrested late last week before being charged with three offences: engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a child, taking an indecent image of a child and distributing an indecent image of a child. She appeared before South East Hampshire Magistrates court on October 10 and was remanded into custody until January 18, 2010, where she will appear at a plea and case management hearing.
