Teenage nursery worker convicted of child rape

Thomas Waller was branded "a very dangerous individual"

A teenage nursery worker from Surrey has been convicted of raping and sexually abusing children as young as three.

Thomas Waller, now 18, appeared at Staines Magistrates Court on Friday and was told his offences - which took place in 2024 - were so serious he would have to be sentenced at crown court.

Newly-qualified to work with young children, Waller was found guilty of a number of offences, including rape, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and taking indecent images of children.

Told by the district judge he could expect a prison sentence of up to 17 years, Waller was described by the mother of one of his victims as "a very dangerous individual".

She told BBC South East: "That he can do this at such a young age and in such a calculated way, I find very frightening."

The mother said she had found out what happened to her son when he told her he had been abused in a toilet at school.

She said: "He told me, in three-year-old terms, that he'd been sexually assaulted at nursery by one of the staff, which was very shocking for me to hear.

"On hearing that, I stayed very calm and asked him some questions about what he was telling me to try to get him to repeat it, and I was really questioning him in different ways to see if his story would stay the same and consistent, which it did.

"In fact, he was adding more and more explanation of what happened."

She then told the nursery, who reported it to the police and Waller was arrested the same evening.

Following conviction, CPS barrister Rio Pahlavanpour told the BBC that he had sent a sentencing note to the court advising that the offences were "too serious to be dealt with by the youth court".

"I had said that, were he an adult, for the most serious offence he would receive a sentence of 13 years - that range being between 11 and 17 [years]."