JAYDEN MCCARTHY AND SHOCKING CHILD ABUSE IN BRIXHAM AND TORBAY

A young man has been sentenced to a lengthy prison term after being convicted of sexually abusing children at the nursery where he was employed. Jayden McCarthy, aged 18, received a sentence of 11 years and six months in prison, along with an extended license period of three years, as determined by a judge at Exeter Crown Court.

The court heard that McCarthy was found guilty of one count of rape and thirteen counts of sexual assault related to incidents at a nursery in Torbay. Additionally, he was convicted of two separate counts of raping a boy in an incident that occurred in 2014. The investigation into McCarthy’s conduct was initiated after a child, who attended the nursery where he worked, disclosed to her parents that she had been sexually assaulted by him.

During the trial, which took place at Exeter Crown Court, the jury was shown thirteen CCTV recordings from July 2019. These clips depicted McCarthy engaging in inappropriate touching of eight different children. McCarthy had been employed as an apprentice at the nursery since March 2019, having been selected through an interview process and after undergoing Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks.

The father of one of the victims addressed the court, describing the emotional toll the ordeal had taken on his family. He stated that they had endured what he described as the “fires of hell” over the past two years, suffering from anxiety and depression. He also expressed that McCarthy’s actions had “broken” his family.

The judge, David Evans, commented on the seriousness of the case, noting that McCarthy was only 16 years old at the time of the offenses. He emphasized that McCarthy posed a significant risk to the public, as he appeared unable to control his sexual impulses while working at the nursery. The judge remarked, “You were placed in a specific position of trust and you exploited that situation,” and suggested that sexual offending might be ingrained in McCarthy’s nature, indicating that substantial work would be necessary to address these issues.

Detective Chief Inspector James Stock, from the Public Protection Unit at Devon and Cornwall Police, described the case as “emotionally challenging and incredibly complex.” An independent review into McCarthy’s abuse, commissioned by Torbay’s Safeguarding Partnership, is currently underway to further examine the circumstances surrounding the case.