Birmingham City Council and Ofsted failed to investigate abuse suspicions at Little Stars nursery, according to a serious case review published today.
The Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board has published its serious case review into abuse at Little Stars nursery in 2010, identifying failings by the local authority, Ofsted and the nursery.
Paul Wilson, an assistant at the nursery, was jailed for life in July 2011 after pleading guilty to raping a child in the nursery.
He also admitted 47 counts of grooming of teenage girls over the Internet.
The review found that Birmingham City Council knew Wilson had a ‘special relationship’ with the child but failed to investigate properly.
Birmingham also failed to communicate with the relevant agencies and investigate when the initial child protection concerns were raised.
Jane Held, independent chairman of the multi-agency Birmingham Safeguarding Children Board, said: ‘Responsibility for this awful abuse must, and does, lie with the perpetrator.
‘He was clever, duplicitous and manipulative, and took advantage of weaknesses in the system.
‘Parents should be able to trust the people they leave their children with to ensure that children are properly protected.
‘In this case there were, unfortunately, a number of weaknesses in the way that nursery was run and a number of opportunities to intervene earlier and prevent the continuation of abuse which were missed.’
