Prison for teacher branded parents’ nightmare

Richard Oldham videoed children on his mobile phone as they changed for swimming lessons when he was a teacher in York and was found to have thousands of indecent images of children on his computer.

The 32-year-old had pleaded guilty to three counts of voyeurism, 14 counts of making indecent images of a child and five counts of sexual assault before being sentenced to six months in prison at Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

The judge said he was confident Oldham was “man enough” to wrestle his demons, describing his sentence as a “very severe punishment”.

Judge Rodney Jameson said: “It’s a loss to the community. Good teachers are not a rare commodity but when they’re found they should be treasured.

“This is, in the classic sense of the word, a tragedy – that somebody with your ability, and the good in you, was not able to control successfully instincts that led you to commit these offences.”

He said many people in York will now wonder whether Oldham possessed images of their children.

Aisha Wadoodi, prosecuting, said Oldham’s offending spanned eight years and was uncovered in September last year after a 10-year-old boy complained the teacher touched him in a lesson. The court heard it was inappropriate but was over his clothes and did not involve his genitals.

Once the case received media coverage, another 10-year-old boy, at a different school, came forward to say he had been touched by Oldham between September 2010 and July last year.

After Oldham was arrested, police found computer equipment at his home containing more than 2,000 indecent images of children. Although most were at the lower levels of the scale used by police to describe the severity of images, some were at level four, which the judge described as “the rape of children”.

Ms Wadoodi said the filming at the swimming lessons focused on the children’s genitals, and Oldham would also talk to pupils about erections and pornography.

Alisdair Williamson, defending, said his client was a “young man who has struggled with dark desires”.

He said Oldham “crucially came to realise his curiosity results from a sexual interest in boys”.

The barrister said that Oldham wanted treatment and that some of the indecent images found were taken from a public website and used as models for drawing.

Oldham, now of Holsworthy, in Devon, stood in the dock to be sentenced wearing a grey suit, light blue shirt and dark blue tie.

Judge Jameson said the offences “strike at the root of the relationship that children should have with their teachers”.

He imposed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and ordered Oldham to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years. He was banned for life from working with children.

Detective Sergeant Adam Normanton, of North Yorkshire Police, said: “Oldham tried to portray himself as the model teacher to the police, his colleagues and his family. He was in fact the opposite, he was every parent’s worst nightmare and prison is the right place for him.”

Joe Cocker, City of York Safeguarding Children Board manager, added: “Richard Oldham has betrayed the trust of his pupils, their parents, his colleagues and profession.”