A paedophile who worked at a West Norwood nursery did have one-on-one contact with the children, it is alleged.

Children were told they could go unaccompanied into the kitchen where sex offender Andrew Smith, 32, worked as a chef, according to a parent.

Smith was given a job at the Norwood Manor Day Nursery in Chapel Road, despite him being on the sex offenders list after being released from prison in December for child sex crimes.

In an official statement released on Tuesday, the nursery claimed "at no time did any children come into contact with Mr Smith".

But the furious parent of a four-year-old girl has rubbished the claim.

The woman, who did not wish to be named, said: "My daughter was often told she could go on her own in to the kitchen where this monster was working to get a biscuit. To claim Mr Smith never came into contact with children is just rubbish."

A spokeswoman for CfBT, that runs the nursery, yesterday said Mr Smith did not work with children, but did have to sign in at reception and deliver food around the nursery setting on a daily basis "going into areas where children were supervised by nursery staff".

It has also emerged some parents whose pupils were at the nursery in Chapel Road were not informed by staff of what happened.

Only parents of children currently at the nursery were informed.

Some parents whose children have now started school, but were at the nursery in July when Smith, from Broxholm Road, worked there, found out by reading the Streatham Guardian on Thursday.

A parent said: "It's an absolute disgrace. I'm looking at what action I can take."

Smith was arrested on Sunday after he appeared on a ITV1 programme, To Catch a Paeophile, and was recognised by staff at the nursery.

The programme showed him being caught by undercover police in a sting operation which eventually saw him end up in jail.

Smith sent a string of peverted internet messages and webcam footage of him performing a solo sex act to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl, but was in fact an undercover police officer.

He was arrested on Sunday and charged with breaking the terms of a sexual offences order made against him when he was sentenced.

The manager and deputy nursery manager have been suspended while investigations continue into how Smith managed to avoid any CRB checks before securing the position at the nursery, where he worked for two weeks in July and two weeks in September.

Ofsted, which oversees childcare providers, said the nursery had informed it of the situation and it was currently conducting an urgent investigation.

A spokesman for Reed, who provided the staff for the nursery, said no CRB check was undertaken because Smith was seeking employment in the hospitality industry and it was understood the role at the nursery would not involve direct or unsupervised access to children.

The company said Smith did however sign a statement falsely confirming that that he had no unspent convictions.

The spokesman what happened was "very regrettable" and a thorough review would be undertaken to ensure the situation never occurred again.

A spokeswoman for the CfBT trust, whic runs the nursery, said: "CfBT is clear that staff who have not been CRB checked should not work in our nurseries.

"We cannot rely solely on third party checks and CfBT has safeguarding procedures which should have applied in this case but were not followed.

"As a result, the nursery manager and deputy manager have been suspended pending a thorough investigation."

Senior CfBT staff had been at the nursery since Monday talking to parents and a parents’ meeting was held on Tuesday evening.

The spokeswoman said some former parents, many whose children left the nursery this summer to start school, were unfortunately omitted from the original contact list.

She said: "All parents with children at the nursery during the periods Mr Smith was employed are in the process of being contacted."

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