Nursery employee who ‘pinched and kicked’ 21 infants is free of jail early as dad and mom fume
Roksana Lecka, 23, abused 21 babies at two London nurseries between October 2023 and June 2024. It has now been decided she will deported to Poland after serving less than 15% of her sentence
Police arresting Roksana Lecka(Image: Met Police / SWNS)
The parents of babies abused by a nursery worker in west London have condemned the decision to deport her after she served less than 15% of her prison sentence, describing it as “horrendous” and claiming it undermines confidence in the justice system.
Polish national Roksana Lecka, 23, abused 21 babies at two London nurseries between October 2023 and June 2024. Her offences included punching, kicking, smacking and pinching children in her care. Twenty babies were abused at Riverside Nursery in Twickenham, which has since closed, while another child was abused at Little Munchkins in Hounslow.
Lecka admitted seven counts of cruelty and was found guilty of another 14. She was sentenced to eight years in prison in September last year but was deported to Poland in February after serving 14 months, including time spent on remand, under the government’s Early Release Scheme, reports BBC.
The Ministry of Justice said Lecka “is banned for life from returning to the UK” following her deportation. She is not expected to face further jail time in Poland.
Parents of the victims told the BBC they believe child abusers and other serious offenders should not qualify for early release schemes.
One father, whose son was physically abused by Lecka, described the deportation as “completely inappropriate”. “We felt it undermined all that time and emotion that had gone into the trial,” he said.
“Preparing our witness statements and our victim impact statements, going through the trauma of that whole investigation and trial, to get a sentence brought a sense of closure and we could all move on from it.
“But then for that sentence not to be served, it was a bit of a hollow feeling.” He said there was a “swathe of cases where it’s just completely inappropriate for this scheme” and argued it was having an “undermining effect on the judicial system”.
Another parent said her son still suffers trauma after being abused by Lecka. She said he continues to sleep in her bed two years later because of the lasting emotional impact.
She described the early release and deportation as “utterly dumfounded” and said it “makes a whole mockery” of the UK justice system.
“How can someone commit a crime on vulnerable children in this country and then be returned to their country, with absolutely no onward duty of care about where they’re going to go and anything put in place to make sure they don’t do this again?” she said.
“That’s my biggest concern, is that she’s open to doing this again to other children.” Families were reportedly given less than a week’s notice before Lecka was deported.
Twickenham Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson criticised the lack of communication, calling it “outrageous”. “The fact that they heard from the police, not even the Home Office, is also unacceptable,” she said.
Wilson is also urging the government to improve nursery safety measures, including making CCTV mandatory and introducing a childcare workers’ register.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “These were appalling crimes, and our thoughts remain with the victims and their families. Roksana Lecka is banned for life from returning to the UK following her deportation under the Early Removal Scheme.”
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