PARENTS whose children may have been abused by nursery worker Vanessa George should be able to choose to know if their children were among her victims, a judge said yesterday.

George, 39, and her co-defendants Angela Allen, 39, and Colin Blanchard, 38, pleaded guilty last month to a string of offences of assault and making and distributing indecent images.

George's barrister Nicolas Gerasimidis successfully applied at Bristol Crown Court yesterday for the trio's sentencing to be delayed to give time for more material to be gathered.

George, who worked at Little Ted's Day Care Unit in her home city of Plymouth, Allen, from Nottingham, and Blanchard, from Smallbridge, near Rochdale, Greater Manchester, did not attend.

Last week, it emerged George had finally revealed a list of children's names to Devon and Cornwall police.

During yesterday's hearing, Mr Justice Royce told the court: "If parents want to find out whether their child has been abused, then they should be in a position to do so. If they don't want to know, and I fully understand why some parents should not want to know, then the information should not be thrust upon them. It should be a parental choice."

George admitted seven sexual assaults on children and six counts of distributing and making indecent pictures of children.

Blanchard pleaded guilty to 17 child pornography counts and two sexual assaults on children. He also admitted a further charge of possessing extreme pornography.

Allen pleaded guilty to four child sex assaults and one count of distributing an indecent image.

Yesterday, Mr Gerasimidis told the court George intends to claim that Blanchard "used" her to access indecent images.

He said: "It will be Vanessa George's case that she was used by Colin Blanchard, who is a principle mover in the contacting of women of a certain age so that the type of material this court is concerned with is disseminated back to him."

Mr Justice Royce adjourned sentencing to the week beginning December 14.