Teacher jailed for teen pics

A FORMER teacher at an elite Gold Coast school and the carer he was having a secret affair with have been convicted of child sex offences.

Ex-King’s Christian College teacher Craig Robert Weir, 59, yesterday pleaded guilty in the Southport District Court to indecent treatment of a child under 16 and possession of child exploitation material after he asked the woman he met on a chat room to text an explicit image of an autistic girl in her care because it “excited” him.

The 34-year-old woman, who cannot be named, worked as a carer in early 2015, when she sent the texts.

She pleaded guilty to distributing child exploitation material and indecent treatment of a child under 16.

The court heard she instigated the offending by sending a naked photograph of the teen to Weir. He “encouraged” the behaviour, asking for another photograph.

About 18 months later, Weir’s adult children found the images in their father’s online cloud storage and reported him to police.

He resigned from his job at King’s. There is no suggestion the offending occurred against any children at the school.

Defence barrister Bernard Reilly said Weir was suffering from “chronic depression” at the time and had shown “genuine and forthright” remorse.

The court heard the 34year-old carer had been in a serious domestically violent relationship and was suffering from trauma-related symptoms at the time. She was sentenced to 18 months in jail, suspended after five months are served.

Weir was sentenced to 12 months in jail, but will be released after three months.