A NURSERY worker who sexually abused boys as young as two "groomed parents" to get access to their children, a review has found.

The Significant Case Review was carried out by the South Lanarkshire's independent Child Protection Committee following the prosecution of a former nursery worker, Alex Mortimer.

It found that paedophile Mortimer had built up his ability to access children over many years and groomed ­parents he befriended.

The 29-year-old admitted sexually assaulting two toddlers enrolled at the child-care centre where he was employed. No offences took place in the nursery where he worked.

Mortimer filmed and photographed the abuse of the children, who were aged two and three, and was later found with almost 18,000 indecent images of children, described by police as "depraved".

He was eventually sentenced to almost six years in prison.

The nursery was never named, to protect the ­identities of the victims.

Chairman of the CPC, Norman Dunning, said: "This case not only concerned dreadful abuse of children but also a gross betrayal of trust by a professional charged with their care.

"The CPC, therefore, publishes this report so that what we have learned from this situation can be widely shared, alerting all organisations who provide children's services and also the wider public to the tactics used by this abuser.

"We commend the police operation which detected these crimes and led to prosecution before even worse occurred.

"We also much appreciate the co-operation we have had from parents, the council and all agencies involved in conducting this review and taking on board the ­lessons learned."

Jim Gilhooly, South Lanarkshire Council's education chief, said Mortimer's behaviour was "unforgivable".