A nursery worker has been sentenced to 24 years imprisonment, with an extended licence period of six years, at Bristol Crown Court for multiple sexual assaults against children in his care, including two counts of rape.

Nathan Bennett, aged 30, was convicted by a jury in February of two counts of raping a child, four counts of sexual assault of a child and two counts of assault of a child by penetration. He had denied the offences, but pleaded guilty to 13 other sexual offences against young children at an earlier hearing.

The children were aged between two and three years old when the offences took place in 2024 and 2025 at the nursery in Bristol.

During the trial a video interview with one of Bennett’s young victims was shown, in which they described what happened to them.

A safeguarding concern was raised about Bennett in February 2025, after a member of staff observed him touching a child inappropriately on CCTV. He was reported to police and the local authority and arrested the same day.

Gemma Kneebone of the Crown Prosecution Service said: “Nathan Bennett’s offending is amongst the most appalling and upsetting that I have seen in my time as a prosecutor of sexual offences.

“When we send our children to school or pre-school each day, we do so trusting that they will be cared for and kept safe. Bennett took advantage of that trust, seeking out a profession that gave him access to the most vulnerable of victims.

“He exploited his position – and the trust that came with it – to repeatedly abuse young children, while grooming them to believe that his sickening behaviour was normal.

“To discover that a person to whom you had entrusted your child’s care could betray that trust in such a way is unimaginable, and our thoughts remain with all of those affected by these terrible crimes.”