Jailed nursery worker's prison term increased

A former nursery worker who was jailed for making indecent images of children and falsifying job references has had his sentence increased.

Kristian Parry, 27, was arrested at the nursery where he worked in Leeds in May last year after police suspected he had uploaded indecent images of children.

It emerged he had more than 5,000 pictures and videos on his laptop and phone. None of the images involved children in his care.

He was sentenced to two years in March - one year for fraud and one for the indecent images charges - but the Court of Appeal decided on Tuesday Parry's total sentence would be extended to three years and eight months.

Parry was handed an extra 20 months for fraud because he committed the offence to enable him to access children, an appeal judge said earlier.

The court heard the one-year sentence for the indecent image offences would remain the same but the fraud sentence would be extended because it "enabled a paedophile to have access to defenceless children".

Lord Justice Edis said: "This offence was more serious than ordinary category A fraud.

"This case is not serious because a job was obtained by the fraud offence, but because of the nature of the job and the reason why the offender wanted it."

At a previous hearing, Leeds Crown Court heard police officers attended the nursery where Parry worked on 13 May 2025, where he had responsibilities for looking after children under five and changing nappies.

Following his arrest it emerged he had faked two job references via email, having been dismissed from his role at another Leeds nursery due to alcohol abuse in June 2024.

The court also heard when Parry was arrested, his phone screensaver was a picture of a child wearing a nappy and some of the images found on his devices were category A - the most serious type.

Parry's defence said earlier his 12-month sentence for indecent images "properly reflected the offending behaviour".

Lord Justice Edis pointed out the increase in the fraud sentence was not to do with any financial loss to the nursery, rather the high risk it posed to children.

He added: "The real harm done in this case was the exposure of children to a paedophile - therefore culpability and harm are at a very high level."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.