No fourth member of Facebook paedophile gang

An indecent image feared to show a suspected fourth member of the Facebook paedophile gang has now been confirmed to be unrelated, police said today.

Nursery worker Vanessa George, and her two accomplices Angela Allen and Colin Blanchard, all admitted abusing children and recording the acts on their mobile phones, earlier this week.

Detectives were concerned that one image found among the gang's horde could have shown a fourth member.

But Devon and Cornwall Police today said it was a "random" image downloaded from the web, not related to the trio's twisted enterprise.

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman also added: "We're satisfied this image was not taken by George and it's not connected to the nursery in any way."

George, 39, who worked at Little Ted's Nursery in Plymouth, Devon, Allen, 39, from Nottingham, and IT dealer Blanchard, 38, of Manchester, now await sentence for the horrific catalogue of child sex abuse.

Meanwhile, officers are planning to interview George once again - for the sixth time - in a bid to identify the toddlers and babies she abused.

Police have been unable to identify a single child in any of the images found on George, Blanchard and Allen's computers.

Acknowledging this in court on Thursday, Mr Justice John Royce urged George to co-operate with police in identifying all her victims.

Mr Justice Royce said many parents still did not know if their child was among the victims - but George "must know".

Mr Justice Royce said: "If I were a parent, I would want to know whether my child was abused or not. Would it not be decent for her to indicate who she has abused? It is a factor that I have got to take into account."

The judge adjourned the case, provisionally scheduling sentencing for November 13.