Partou Managers Ignored Abuse Warnings Before Worker Jailed for 30 Years
Updated
Updated · BBC.com · Jun 22
Partou Managers Ignored Abuse Warnings Before Worker Jailed for 30 Years
2 articles · Updated · BBC.com · Jun 22
Summary
Months before Nathan Bennett was arrested, a former Partou King Street employee says managers dismissed repeated warnings that he held children too long and sat them on his lap out of CCTV view.
Two weeks after Bennett was briefly allowed back to work following a whistleblowing report, CCTV review showed him putting his hands down a boy's trousers; he was then suspended again, reported and arrested.
Five boys aged 2 and 3 were abused by Bennett, who was jailed in February for 30 years, while some parental concerns were never passed to Ofsted or the local safeguarding officer despite a legal duty.
Partou nurseries were more than 7 times as likely to receive Ofsted welfare notices in the 12 months after Bennett's arrest, while Bright Horizons' rate rose to more than 4 times average after another abuse case.
Ofsted says it intensified inspections at both chains, but both implicated nurseries had held 'good' ratings—fueling criticism that headline grades can miss safeguarding failures.
With 'good' ratings masking horrific abuse, can new rules truly fix a broken childcare safety culture?
As abuse scandals hit nurseries from the UK to France, is this a global child protection crisis?
30-Year Sentence Exposes Safeguarding Gaps: The Nathan Bennett Nursery Abuse Case and Sector-Wide Reforms
Overview
Nathan Bennett was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the sexual abuse of five very young boys at Partou King Street Nursery. His crimes, which included rape and assault, exposed serious failures in the nursery’s safeguarding procedures. Parents had reported clear warning signs about Bennett’s behavior, but these were not properly addressed. Now, at least 11 families are pursuing civil action to hold the nursery accountable, with lawyers investigating how employment checks and staff training failed. This case has sparked urgent calls for stronger child protection measures and better oversight in early years settings to prevent such tragedies in the future.