A SOCIAL worker appeared in court in connection with the investigation into Liverpool paedophile Colin Blanchard.

Tracy Dawber, from Southport, faces 11 charges including four counts of possessing indecent images of children, five counts of allowing indecent photographs of a child to be taken and one count of committing a sexual assault on a child under the age of 13.

Also among the allegations is that the Sefton council worker facilitated a sexual assault on a child.

The 43-year-old denied all the offences when she appeared before magistrates in Bootle yesterday, and was remanded in custody until a committal hearing next month.

The accusations relate to a period of around 15 months between August last year and last Tuesday.

Dawber, 43, from Guildford Road, was charged as a result of an alleged link to Blanchard, 38, a former IT salesman from Rochdale.

In a case which sparked massive public outrage, Norris Green man Blanchard admitted a string of child abuse offences at Bristol Crown Court last month alongside nursery worker Vanessa George and Angela Allen, both 39.

Liverpool father-of-two Blanchard, who was employed at Knowsley Community College in the 1990s, has been described as the “instigator” of a paedophile ring.

The charges against Dawber are not linked to the Little Teds Nursery in Plymouth, where George worked.

Dawber will appear before a committal hearing on December 30 at South Sefton Magistrates.

Yesterday, Sefton council confirmed Dawber was suspended this week as soon as the allegations came to light.