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Pregnant mother in Facebook paedophiles case worked at nursery
Justin Davenport, Crime Correspondent13.10.09
The pregnant mother of eight charged in connection with the Facebook paedophile ring is a former nursery school worker.
Tracy Lyons, 39, was arrested as part of the inquiry which led to the conviction of Plymouth nursery paedophile Vanessa George and fellow abusers Colin Blanchard and Angela Allen.
Lyons, who is seven months pregnant, is charged with sexually assaulting a young child, taking a photograph of the attack and distributing it.
Today it was revealed that Lyons volunteered at Izzies Neighbourhood Nursery in her home city of Portsmouth. Staff refused to comment.
Parents whose children attended the nursery at the time Lyons worked there today spoke of their fears.
Samantha Gibbs, whose five-year-old son is at the nursery, said Lyons worked there for two days last year. “I was told by a member of staff that she had been supervised. They told me she had undergone a Criminal Records Bureau check and nothing had been flagged up.”
Lyons was arrested after the computers of George, Blanchard and Allen were examined. The three will be sentenced next month for 37 child sex offences. Lyons was remanded in custody at Portsmouth magistrates' court on Saturday until 18 January.
She has a Winnie the Pooh-themed page on social networking site MySpace, featuring photos of her and many of her children, and uses a pregnancy scan image as her Facebook profile picture. She describes herself as a Christian and a “proud parent”.
The development comes after tapes of George being interviewed by police emerged in which she said what she did was “vile” and “disgusting” but refused to name any of her victims.
