Nursery Worker Jailed Over Infant Abuse

Roksana Lecka, 22, has been jailed for eight years at Kingston Crown Court after admitting seven counts and being convicted of a further 14 for a sustained campaign of abuse against 21 babies at two southwest London nurseries alleged to have taken place between October 2023 and June 2024; the campaign was discovered in June 2024. CCTV and bodycam footage shown in court captured her vaping over cots and repeatedly pinching, scratching (often under clothing), slapping, punching, kicking (including repeatedly in the face), toppling infants head-first into cots, and covering a toddler’s mouth, leaving some victims with bruises and lasting trauma. Judge Sarah Plaschkes described the offences as gratuitous and "sadistic," banned Lecka from working with children again, and imposed the eight-year sentence after parents gave harrowing victim impact statements, with some families saying the trauma forced them to move and the Riverside nursery in Twickenham later closing. Parents had reported unexplained bruises from March to May 2024, prompting a review of nursery CCTV that led to Lecka being sent home and then arrested. In court Lecka said she smoked cannabis before shifts and claimed it affected her memory; separate reports say she has been assaulted in custody.