Woman guilty of sexually assaulting baby

Tracy Dawber let convicted paedophile Colin Blanchard take photos on his mobile phone as she assaulted the young baby at her home on Southport, Merseyside, in 2008.

Dawber, 44, was today found guilty at Winchester Crown Court of one count of sexually assaulting a child and five counts of permitting indecent photographs of a child to be taken.

She had denied the charges but Blanchard told the court she had taken the lead in the abuse.

“These are serious offences. A custodial sentence of some length is inevitable.” Mr Justice Royce

Blanchard, 40, of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, previously admitted being involved in the assault, the jury was told.

He also admitted he had been involved with other women, including Vanessa George who was jailed last year for abusing children while working at a Plymouth nursery.

Guilty verdicts
Dawber mouthed “oh no” as the first guilty verdict was delivered by the foreman. She then shook and wept as the other guilty verdicts were said in court.

The jury of six men and six women took just two hours to find her guilty.

Mr Justice Royce remanded Dawber in custody for pre-sentence reports. He told her: “These are serious offences. A custodial sentence of some length is inevitable.”

Paedophile ring
The community care worker is the fifth member of Blanchard’s paedophile ring to face justice.

George and former prostitute Angela Allen were sentenced at Bristol Crown Court for a string of sexual assaults and making and distributing indecent images of children.

Mother-of-two George and single mother Allen, from Nottingham, carried out the offences with Blanchard, from Smithy Bridge, near Rochdale, after they all met on social networking site Facebook.

They never actually met in person, recording the abuse on their mobile phones and exchanging the pictures via email to unprotected accounts.

A fourth woman who fell under Blanchard’s influence – Tracy Lyons, a mother of nine from Portsmouth – admitted two counts of sexually abusing a toddler.