March 2014
Nursery abuser Alexander Mortimer ‘groomed parents’
A review into the case of a Lanarkshire nursery worker who abused boys has said more robust procedures are needed to detect offenders who seek to “groom parents” to get to their children.
Alexander Mortimer, 30, was jailed for more than five years in 2012 for filming himself abusing two young boys and taking indecent photographs.
The review said he tried to be friends with parents to get to their children.
It also said some nursery colleagues’ concerns about him were not acted upon.
Mortimer was originally jailed for eight years but this was reduced to five years and 11 months on appeal.
The court heard how he filmed and photographed the abuse he carried out on two young boys, and was found to have 17,967 indecent images and 582 videos on his computer.
Some of the images were categorised as “level five”, which are considered the most depraved.
When his home in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, was searched by police, Mortimer claimed he had been researching child abuse for a college course.
He later admitted molesting the boys, who were aged between two and three at the time, and taking indecent photos of them.
He also pleaded guilty to possessing indecent photos of children and downloading the indecent material.
‘Most disturbing’
Following his conviction, a Significant Case Review was carried out by South Lanarkshire Child Protection Committee.
The review concluded: “One of the most disturbing aspects of this case was the way in which the perpetrator seems to have set about building up his ability to access children over several years through his career path and the way he created opportunity to abuse children by befriending parents he met through his work.
“He groomed parents in order to get to children.
“As the review brings out, this has implications for recruitment on to training courses and into employment for child protection training, for the alertness of management to the possibility that this could happen and for all involved to be receptive to any concerns raised by parents or colleagues.”
The review also noted that “several colleagues had raised concerns with internal managers” about some of Mortimer’s behaviour which “had not been in line with nursery protocols”.
A report into the review also revealed managers were told by staff that Mortimer did not wear gloves while changing nappies.
Mortimer only received a ten-minute job interview when and was graded “low” by assessors when he was applying to South Lanarkshire to work with pre-school children, the review also found.
The review has recommended that national bodies should consider how difficult it is for staff to “whistleblow” due to fears about the reaction they will get.
The new report, which refers to Mortimer as M, states: “During the police enquiries, and a series of support sessions set up for relatives and staff in the period following M’s arrest, it emerged that M had made regular efforts during the time of his employment there and in previous settings to befriend relatives and colleagues and thereby to gain access to children outside the nursery via activities such as babysitting.
“A number of parents had resisted these efforts. It was also noted by the police that around the time of his arrest he had made an enquiry to the council about the possibility of adoption. It also emerged that several colleagues had raised concerns with internal managers about some of his behaviours which had not been in line with nursery protocols but these had not been passed on to or further discussed with external managers.”
The report later details how It emerged during enquiries, both by police and internally, that several staff raised issues of discomfort with internal managers about some of Mortimer’s behaviours at work.
The report says: “These had not been discussed further with external managers or taken up with M directly, and there were issues in the recording of them.
“It was felt that the response to these was confused with assumptions that others were being discriminatory about male workers.
“The kind of examples were of M not using gloves when changing nappies, and closing toilet doors when with a child.
It noted: “But these had not been passed on to or further discussed with external managers.”
It is understood that the behaviour referred to related to Mortimer’s “unkempt” appearance and a perception of him being “lazy”, rather than any concerns that he posed a threat to children.
CPC chairman Norman Dunning said, however, that if elements of Mortimer’s behaviour had been acted upon sooner, he may have been put off from attempting his abusive activities.
“In this case, the perpetrator clearly broke rules in the nursery, and even though it couldn’t be predicted from that, that he would go on to abuse children, it is important that when concerns are raised, by colleagues or parents, they are picked up on,” he said.
Serious issues
“If those concerns had been picked up on, it is possible he would not have felt it was so easy to get away with other more serious behaviour.”
Mr Dunning told BBC Scotland that the review report raised serious issues for all agencies involved in the care of children.
“The lessons that we should all learn are that we need to be alert to the possibility that some perpetrators may build up a career over several years in order to gain access to children.
“Even though they may not get unsupervised access to children in their workplace, they may befriend parents in order to gain such access.
“So, what we have to do is make our recruitment processes as robust as we can and make sure services and parents are alert to those dangers.”
November 2012
Sex crime nursery worker Alexander Mortimer has jail term cut
A nursery worker from Lanarkshire who was jailed for eight years for filming himself abusing young boys has had his prison term cut by appeal judges.
Alexander Mortimer, 28, admitted assaulting the boys, taking indecent photographs of children, and possessing indecent images.
His lawyers successfully argued he was not given a large enough sentence reduction for his early guilty plea.
Appeal judges reduced his prison term to five years and 11 months.
He could be back on our streets by mid-2014 !
When he was sentenced, the High Court in Edinburgh heard how Mortimer filmed and photographed the abuse he carried out, and was found to have 17,967 indecent images and 582 videos on his computer.
Some of the images were categorised as “level five”, which are considered the most depraved.
When his home in Rutherglen, South Lanarkshire, was searched by police officers, Mortimer claimed he had been researching child abuse for a college course.
He later admitted molesting the boys, who were aged between two and three at the time, and taking indecent photos of them between April last year and January.
He also pleaded guilty to possessing indecent photos of children in January and downloading the indecent material during the previous three years.
Judge Lady Stacey, who described Mortimer as “clearly a danger to children”, gave a discount of 10% on the sentence.
At the Court of Criminal Appeal, his counsel Brian McConnachie QC argued that such a low reduction in the sentence following his guilty plea was an error.
He said: “This was a case where there were potential vulnerable civilian witnesses who would have been required to give evidence had the case proceeded to trial.”
Mr McConnachie argued that the general expectation for a guilty plea at the earliest stage was a discount of a third on sentence.
The defence counsel said the sentencing judge appeared to have taken the “overwhelming” case against Mortimer into account when reducing the amount of discount.
But he argued that was now regarded as “an inappropriate matter” to take into account when fixing the amount to be cut from a sentence following a guilty plea.
Lord Mackay, sitting with Lord Philip, agreed to reduce his sentence.
July 2012
Nursery worker Alexander Mortimer jailed for sex crimes
A nursery worker has been jailed for eight years for a series of sexual offences against young boys.
Alexander Mortimer, 28, had admitted charges of assaulting the boys, taking indecent photographs of children, and possessing indecent images.
Mortimer, who lived in Rutherglen in South Lanarkshire, worked at a childcare facility in Lanarkshire.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lady Stacey told him his actions were a “gross breach of trust”.
Mortimer filmed and photographed the abuse he carried out, and was found to have 17,967 indecent images and 582 videos on his computer.
Some of the images were categorised as “level five”, which are considered the most depraved.
When his home was searched by police officers, Mortimer claimed he had been researching child abuse for a college course.
Lady Stacey imposed an extended sentence on Mortimer, which means he will be supervised for a further seven years when he is released from jail.
She said he was “clearly a danger to children” and placed him on the sex offenders register.
May 2012
South Lanarkshire nursery worker admits sex abuse of toddlers
Alexander Mortimer, 28, was convicted yesterday of carrying out the abuse of two young children who were enrolled at the South Lanarkshire Council-run nursery where he worked.
He admitted at the High Court in Glasgow to abusing his victims, aged two and four, and possessing 18,000 images of child pornography, many among the “most depraved” seen by detectives.
The paedophile is also known to have trawled through Facebook offering to babysit for children at the nursery where he worked, which cannot be named for legal reasons, since 2008.
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