Nursery worker's abuse was 'parent's nightmare'

A nursery worker sexually abused toddlers in what has been described as "every parent's nightmare", a court has been told.

Nathan Bennett, 30, of Corston near Bath, denies 11 charges including rape, sexual assault, assault by penetration, and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and is on trial at Bristol Crown Court.

The offences are alleged to have happened at Partou King Street Day Nursery and Pre-school in Bristol in 2024 and 2025. The establishment was closed by Ofsted in December 2025.

Bennett had previously pleaded guilty to 13 other sexual offences involving five two or three-year-old boys.

Speaking at the opening of the trial earlier, prosecutor Virginia Cornwall said Bennett was able to "exploit a sexual interest" while working at the nursery.

She told the jury some of the evidence against Bennett comes in the form of CCTV from inside the nursery.

"The events that were to unfold... are you may think every parent's nightmare," Cornwall said.

"A person entrusted to be responsible for your child, care for your child, nurture your child - at times when you are unable to provide that parental care - that abuses that position, that trust, that role, and sexually abuses your child."

Bennett began working at the nursery in July 2024 and Cornwall said he "took opportunities that he either engineered or were presented to him within the nursery setting to abuse".

"There is no issue in this case that this man has sexually abused five of the small boys who were at that nursery," Cornwall said.

"He has admitted his sexual interest, that the Crown says, he has in pre-school age boys, toddlers, essentially two and three years of age, by his partial guilty pleas to some of the charges in this case."

She said Bennett had admitted less serious charges and faced trial for more serious alleged offences.

Cornwall said the children's ages meant they were "understandably trusting" of an adult they were familiar with.

"As you will see from the footage, he actively encourages that familiarity," she added.

"He's tactile, he's attentive, you will see that there's hair ruffling, there's touching, there's closeness, the sorts of things that little children perhaps respond to – making them feel special and safe with him.

"A child of that age simply would not comprehend, would they, that it was sexual or necessarily wrong."

She said the alleged abuse was not something that others were aware of but said there had been concerns from some colleagues about Bennett's attitude towards certain children.

Nursery manager Victoria Tutton, who was known as Vera, said Bennett would "favour" certain children, preferring to read them stories or sit with them.

"Me and the staff could see that Nathan had stronger relationships with some children than others," she said in a written statement.

She said a local authority safeguarding concern was raised about Bennett after a complaint from a parent about the defendant's interaction with their child.

Later, Tutton said she immediately sent Bennett home after witnessing an alleged incident that made her uncomfortable on CCTV.

Nursery practitioner Elizabeth Burton said in a written statement she began to witness "strange behaviours" by Bennett.

"One of the other things I witnessed myself was how much physical contact he would constantly require with the children," she said.

"He seemed to have a group of five children that he had a jealous attachment with. He would take control of them."

Bennett has pleaded guilty to eight charges of sexual assault of a child, four charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and one charge of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

He denies two charges of raping a child, four charges of sexual assault of a child and two charges of assault of a child by penetration.

The trial continues.

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