The parents of babies abused by a nursery worker in west London say the decision to deport her after serving less than 15% of her prison sentence is "horrendous".

Polish national Roksana Lecka abused 21 babies at two London nurseries between October 2023 and June 2024 and offences included punching, kicking and smacking the children.

Lecka, 23, was jailed for eight years last September but was deported to Poland in February after serving 14 months as part of an Early Release Scheme.

She may face no further consequences in Poland. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said she "is banned for life from returning to the UK". The Polish government has been asked to comment.

Twenty babies were abused at the Riverside Nursery in Twickenham, which is now closed, and one was abused at Little Munchkins in Hounslow.

Lecka had admitted seven counts of cruelty and was found guilty of another 14.

A father whose son was physically abused by Lecka said her deportation early in her sentence was "completely inappropriate".

He is among other parents who told the BBC they are now calling for child abusers, and other serious offenders, to be ineligible for early release.

The Labour government introduced the early release scheme in 2024 after prisons almost reached full capacity.

The victim's father said Lecka’s deportation was "really hard to swallow".

"We felt it undermined all that time and emotion that had gone into the trial," he said.

"Preparing our witness statements and our victim impact statements, going through the trauma of that whole investigation and trial, to get a sentence brought a sense of closure and we could all move on from it.

"But then for that sentence not to be served, it was a bit of a hollow feeling."

He said there was a "swathe of cases where it's just completely inappropriate for this scheme" and that it was having an "undermining effect on the judicial system".

The father added there was "too much focus on cost savings, rather than upholding the principles of the system".

Lecka's future is now in the hands of Polish authorities and she is not expected to spend any further time behind bars, the BBC understands.

While UK officials have informed their Polish counterparts of Lecka's convictions, there is still a chance that she will work with children again.

A mother told BBC London her son was left with heavy bruises after being pinched by the nursery worker.

Two years later, he still has to sleep in his mother's bed because of the trauma of the offences.

She said Lecka's sentencing left her "utterly dumfounded" and "makes a whole mockery" of the UK justice system.

"How can someone commit a crime on vulnerable children in this country and then be returned to their country, with absolutely no onward duty of care about where they're going to go and anything put in place to make sure they don't do this again?" she said.

"That's my biggest concern, is that she's open to doing this again to other children."

The police investigation, trial and sentencing collectively took more than a year. The mother believes that was, in part, wasted.

"The 21 babies in the case, all of the nursery workers involved in the investigation, the police time to look at the CCTV footage, the court system, the prison service, the amount of time, energy, resource and heartache that we have gone through with this whole process – for all that to be disregarded, is just horrendous," she said.

The parents were given less than a week's notice of Lecka's deportation.

Twickenham's Liberal Democrat MP, Munira Wilson, has called the lack of communication "outrageous".

"The fact that they heard from the police, not even the Home Office, is also unacceptable," she said.

"Let's put victims first, front centre. [The Home Office must] make sure they know as early as possible in the process and are given due notice when that person is due to be deported."

Wilson is also urging the government to significantly improve safety measures in nurseries, following a spate of similar abuse cases across the country.

She wants CCTV to be made mandatory and is also urging ministers to roll-out a childcare workers' register.

A MoJ spokesperson said: "These were appalling crimes, and our thoughts remain with the victims and their families.

"Roksana Lecka is banned for life from returning to the UK following her deportation under the Early Removal Scheme.

"This government is deporting foreign national offenders at pace, with more than 5,000 deported last year - a 14% increase on the previous year."

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Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqxpql7rnw7o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss