A nursery worker has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for r@ping and abusing young children under his care.

Nathan Bennett, 30, was found guilty of two counts of r@pe, four counts of s3.xual a$sault, and two counts of as$ault through penetration.

The charges involved five boys aged two to three years old who attended Bristol’s Partou King Street Nursery.

Bennett had previously admitted 13 other s3.xual offences involving four of the children.

He was hired at the nursery in 2024 but was arrested less than a year later after CCTV footage caught him putting his hands down a child’s trousers.

Prosecutor Virginia Cornwall told the court that Bennett’s actions were “every parent’s worst nightmare”. 

She said: “That a person entrusted to be responsible for your child, care for your child and nurture your child at times when you are unable to provide that parental care, abuses their position and s3xually abuses that child.” 

Staff of the nursery, which closed last year, said Bennett sat children on his lap for lengthy periods of time. 

He also acted “territorial” over certain toddlers and wore trousers with a hole in the crotch area, the court was told. 

Video interviews with two of the victims – named only as Child A and Child E – were played to the jury. 

Child E’s mum said her son explained to her that he had been abused at nursery, adding to the court: “I got him to stop doing it. I asked him when that happened. He said it happened at nursery.” 

Judge Hart described the defendant as “evil” and an “incorrigible and dangerous paedophile” as he sentenced him today. 

Bennett claimed he was “emulating” how he was treated as a child. He denied having a s£xual attraction to children. 

Judge Hart said the defendant “prioritised s£xual satisfaction over the well-being of children”, the judge added as Bennett rocked back and forth. 

The judge said: “Because s£xual interest in such very young children is thankfully very uncommon, I find it impossible to predict how long you will remain such a danger.”