A Polish Montessori nursery worker who attacked 21 defenceless babies is set to be deported only a few months into her eight-year prison stint.
Roksana Lecka, 22, was jailed for her campaign of ‘sadistic’ assaults where she punched, kicked, threw and pinched children as young as ten months old.
She confessed to seven counts of child cruelty, including kicking a boy in the face and punching a girl in the side.
Lecka denied 17 other similar charges, but jurors found her guilty of 14 counts of child cruelty during the six months she worked at Riverside Nursery in Twickenham.
She was found to have abused infants at a second nursery; however, her acts were only found when she was sent home for pinching multiple children at Riverside.
During a trial at Kingston Crown Court, Lecka tried to justify her behaviour by claiming she was sleep deprived from smoking cannabis all night with her boyfriend.
The Polish national previously told the court: ‘I can’t remember the things I was doing because I was smoking cannabis that was affecting my memory.’
It is understood that the 22-year-old is set to be deported back to her native country, Poland, on Thursday, February 5.
Roksana Lecka was found guilty of assaulting 21 toddlers in her care at a Montessori nursery
The 22-year-old told her trial she was ‘addicted’ to vaping and would be ‘moody’ if she wasn’t able to puff on the device during work
When Lecka, who worked in a £1,900-a-month Montessori nursery, arrives in the Eastern European country, her probation or jail time will be determined by the officials there.
A Home Office spokesperson said: ‘We will not allow foreign criminals and illegal migrants to exploit our laws.
‘We are reforming human rights laws and replacing the broken appeals system so we can scale up deportations.
‘All Foreign National Offenders who receive a prison sentence in the UK are referred for deportation at the earliest opportunity.’Background
In a campaign of terror, Lecka pinched and scratched toddlers’ legs and stomachs while working at the nursery in southwest London.
Devastated parents began reporting unexplained injuries on their children in March 2024.
However, managers at the nursery did not discover Lecka was the culprit, and she continued to care for toddlers under two until she was arrested on June 28, 2024.
CCTV footage shown to the court showed Lecka vaping in the darkness in a baby sleeping room, where there was at least one child.
Lecka, who is from Poland but moved to the UK with her parents when she was younger, was caught on CCTV kicking a boy in the face and punching a girl in the side
Lecka was caught on CCTV footage vaping in the nursery’s sleep room
While she was supposed to be caring for infants she instead vaped inches from them as they slept
Meanwhile, shocking police interview footage showed how the 22-year-old seemed ‘bored’ and showed no emotion as the gravity of her criminality was laid bare.
One clip showed Lecka appearing to play with her hair while she was asked about a baby ‘on a mattress, he seems to be crying’.
When Lecka did not respond, a female officer paused to say: ‘Sorry am I boring you?’
Additional footage showed the 22-year-old repeatedly responding ‘no comment’ to every question lodged by police.
The vicious nursery worker also showed little to no emotion when pictures of the injuries she caused children in her care were shown to her.
Detectives trawled through 300 hours of CCTV footage in the space of just ten days – footage which laid bare the scale of Lecka’s violence against toddlers and babies.
There were no issues regarding safeguarding when Lecka was hired, the court was told.
Parents of the victims spoke of their ‘overwhelming guilt’ at sending their infants to the Riverside Nursery in Twickenham, southwest London.
Lecka appeared calm when she was informed by police that she was to be arrested over the attacks
During police interviews, Lecka was seen playing with her hair and repeatedly answered: ‘No comment’
One father said his wife believed Lecka was capable of killing a child, a statement which appeared to crack the once emotionless defendant.
‘As someone who works in safeguarding children, I find the fact that Roksana slipped through the net and was allowed to work with children absolutely criminal,’ a father said.
‘My wife believes that if she had not been caught she could have gone on to seriously injure or even kill by dropping babies into cots on their heads and kicking them.’
Sentencing Lecka, Judge Sarah Plaschkes KC told Lecka she should be barred from ever working with children or vulnerable people again.
She told the Polish national: ‘You committed multiple acts of gratuitous violence.
‘You pinched, slapped, punched, smacked and kicked them. You pulled their ears, hair and their toes. You toppled children headfirst into cots. You caused bruising and lingering red marks.
‘When you committed these acts of cruelty you would look at the other members of staff to make sure that they were not watching you.
‘Often the child would be quietly and happily minding its own business before you deliberately inflicted pain causing the child to cry, arch, try to get away or writhe around in distress.
‘Time after time you calmly watched the pain and suffering you have caused. Your criminal conduct can properly be characterised as sadistic.’
The 22-year-old denied 17 counts of child cruelty, but admitted seven similar offences, while working at the Riverside Nursery (pictured) between January 31 and June 28 last year
Detective Inspector Sian Hutchings, the senior investigating officer in the case, said: ‘(Lecka has) never given any explanation for her behaviour and what she’s done, which… has only added to the upset for the parents, who have been immensely strong throughout the criminal investigation and been very dignified in their response.’
Lecka ‘was visibly bored’ in the police interview, gave no comment answers, ‘and didn’t appear bothered by the seriousness of the allegations’, the detective added.
This shocked and frustrated the lead investigating officers, Ms Hutchings said.
She said it only ‘added to the upset being caused to the families because we were unable to provide any explanation to them.’
‘She’s never shown any remorse or any empathy throughout the trial or the investigation.’