The father of a toddler who was abused by a nursery worker in a “sadistic” campaign of cruelty says he is “upset and frustrated” that the worker is to be deported to Poland on Thursday, less than five months into an eight-year sentence.

Roksana Lecka, a Polish national, was convicted last June of 21 counts of child cruelty, after a jury at Kingston upon Thames crown court in London found she had smacked, punched, pinched and kicked children aged between 18 months and two years while working at two London nurseries in 2023 and 2024.

Sentencing Lecka in September to eight years in prison, Judge Plaschkes KC said she had committed acts of “gratuitous violence” and described her conduct as “sadistic”.

Despite her lengthy sentence, family members of the victims were told last week that Lecka would be deported to Poland on Thursday under the government’s early removal scheme for foreign offenders. The scheme does not require criminals to serve the remainder of their sentence in the second country, meaning Lecka will walk free.

The father told the Guardian that, after feeling some relief from the sentencing that the matter was closed and the family could move on, it was “upsetting and frustrating” to learn of Lecka’s imminent deportation.

“All the work that was done, the public money that was spent, the trauma of sitting through the trial, seeing all the evidence – now all of that seems a bit pointless, because the actual sentence is not being served.”

As well as their personal upset, he said he and other victims’ families were worried that the nursery worker could harm other children in Poland. “Lecka was refused bail on multiple occasions during her period in pre-trial custody, identified as a flight risk and a risk to the public,” he said.

“The concern was she would flee to Poland … but now, after all this time, pain, the vast expense and emotional trauma of the investigation, trial and sentencing, we effectively end up at the same point. All we have as victims is the verdict and the notion of a sentence. Justice has in this case sadly not been done.”

Munira Wilson, the Lib Dem MP for Twickenham, told the Guardian she had been contacted by victims’ families who were “horrified” to learn of Lecka’s deportation.

“Let’s not forget she was convicted of child cruelty to 21 babies,” Wilson said. “The families want justice to be served, but many of them are also concerned that she may go on to harm children in Poland and elsewhere.

“I understand that our prisons are full and that ministers are trying to free up prison space, and, with foreign nationals, wanting to deport them as quickly as they can. But victims want to see justice done. This policy potentially means that serious offenders are evading justice, and that seems pretty unfair.”

After raising the matter in parliament and writing to the Home Office, Wilson was told by ministers that, due to time on remand before her trial, Lecka had become eligible for deportation on 7 October 2025 – less than a fortnight after receiving her eight-year sentence. She will be barred indefinitely from returning to the UK.

Recent changes to the early removal scheme reduced the proportion of a sentence foreign offenders must serve before being eligible for deportation from 50% to 30%. Further changes due to come into force this year will allow foreign criminals to be deported as soon as they are sentenced, which critics say means they will effectively escape justice.

“These early removal schemes … are a really blatant example of the administration prioritising removals over criminal justice,” said Sarah Singer, a professor of refugee law at the School of Advanced Study, University of London. “They think it would be a political point scorer, but for the families of the victims this is deeply distressing.

“It seems that that interest in removing people from the UK dwarfs any interest in ensuring people serve prison time. I’m sure that it’s also informed by the overcrowding crisis that we have in prisons at the moment. But they’re simply trying to offload the problem. It doesn’t actually address the issue.”

The Home Office was contacted for comment.