Nathan Bennett, a 30-year-old nursery worker, has been convicted of sexually abusing five children in his care at a Bristol nursery. Bennett appeared at Bristol Magistrates’ Court on Friday charged with seven counts of being an adult in a position of trust causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity. Bennett admitted 13 counts involving five children aged two or three, but denied a further 11 charges, including rape, sexual assault and assault by penetration.

During the trial, the court heard that Bennett was overly affectionate in order to gain the trust of young boys at the Partou King Street nursery, where he began working in July 2024. On one occasion, Bennett gave one of his victims a book as a Christmas gift and told the child’s mother he would like to babysit him at the family home. The mother recounted the incident to the court and said she once heard Bennett tell her son he loved him.

The court heard that Bennett, from Corston near Bath, had raised parents’ suspicions on three separate occasions six months before his arrest. Parents voiced concerns that Bennett had been overly affectionate towards their children and used to kiss boys in his care on the cheeks. Bennett was caught in February 2025 after a nursery manager reviewed CCTV footage showing him putting his hands down a child’s trousers.

As prosecutor Virginia Cornwall told the jury, some of the evidence against Bennett came from CCTV inside the nursery. She added that Bennett’s conduct demonstrated “a certain level of predation” in what she described as “every parent’s nightmare.”

The parents of Bennett’s victims gave evidence during the trial, and recorded interviews with the children were shown to the court. During the proceedings, one woman described the moment her son told her he had been sexually abused, saying he had been hurt by a male nursery worker. She said: “I was horrified.”

She described her son as sad and quiet when he told her and added: “We said we wouldn’t let that happen again and gave him a big hug.”

The nursery, which was located in the heart of Bristol city centre, has since been closed by Ofsted in December 2025. The nursery was one site of many owned by the Partou group, which was founded in the Netherlands. They continue to operate several other nurseries in the Bristol area and have assured families that they have "robust safeguarding policies and practices" in place.

In a statement, a Partou spokesperson said: “We have been shocked and distressed by the upsetting details that have emerged over the past several days about Nathan Bennett’s appalling crimes. Our primary concern from the moment we became aware of the offences has been for the children involved and their families.”

Parents of the children who had attended the nursery said:

“We are devastated by the horrific abuse children have suffered at the hands of someone whom we all trusted to care for them. Nothing can begin to explain the shock, anger and heartbreak we feel – or the profound and lasting impact we are sure this will have on families.”