THE husband of paedophile nursery worker Vanessa George has said that a suicide attempt on Tuesday was a cry for help rather than an actual attempt to kill himself.

Andrew George, 41 – who is seeking a divorce from the Plymouth childcare worker who admitted a string offences against children last week – was taken to hospital by ambulance after the attempt at his home.

Mr George, understood to have taken a combination of pills and alcohol, told the Daily Mail: "What I did yesterday wasn't a serious bid to kill myself but I wanted the authorities to realise I need help too and I achieved my aim.

"I had a long talk with a psychiatrist and afterwards felt like a great weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

"I just want life to go back to normal now for my girls."

Police and paramedics were called to Mr George's home in the Efford area of Plymouth at around 11am. He was conscious and breathing but in need of medical attention.

He was taken to Derriford Hospital by ambulance, where he remained overnight. Mr George's condition is not believed to be life-threatening and he is recovering at home.

The father of two, who works as a gas fitter, lives at the semi-detached house in Douglass Road he once shared with the convicted 39-year-old.

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokeswoman said the incident is not being treated as suspicious.

Vanessa George pleaded guilty last week to a string of sex offences against young children. At the time of her crimes, she was employed at Little Ted's nursery in Laira, Plymouth.

At the weekend, George's teenage daughter described her mother as "poison" and vowed never to speak to her again. Pearl George, 15, spoke of the devastation wreaked on the family – younger sister Grace, 13, and their father – and her horror at what her mother had done.

"It is truly unimaginable how many people were affected by my mum and her disgusting lies," Pearl wrote in Sunday's News of the World. "She led a double life right under our noses and kept a dirty secret we knew nothing about.

"Her actions have proved emotionally fatal. What she has done still eats away at us, we can't take any more of her devastating secrets."

The teenager described how their lives were turned upside down when her mother was arrested in June and said she had now disowned her mother.

Mr George told the paper he had filed for divorce from the paedophile, due to be sentenced later this month.

"I call her the monster now," he said. "She's evil. Pure evil. And the kids don't want anything to do with her."