Jailed, headteacher who turned his office into a sordid ‘sex lair’
A HEADTEACHER who created a sex lair in his office so he could romp with his married secretary was jailed yesterday.
James Stewart’s private suite was equipped with sex toys, condoms, drink coasters depicting scenes from the Kama Sutra and a fridge full of champagne.
Staff described hearing clear sounds of a ‘sexual nature, rhythmic moaning and banging’ during school hours.
They likened the goings- on to ‘ the Benny Hill Show’ during the 72-year-old’s trysts with Christine Laxton.
They also overheard Stewart serenading Mrs Laxton on an electric piano in his office.
Stewart, a church- going Cambridge graduate, often locked himself away to drink in the room, which was kitted out like an apartment, with lounge, dining area and bedroom.
As well as the cost of the suite, more than £100,000 in school funds was also spent by the disgraced former principal on restaurants, hotels, luxury items such as smoked salmon and oysters, devices for his home, gardening centre bills and wine club membership.
Staff at Sawtry Village Academy, near Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, contacted Ofsted after spotting Stewart Disgraced: James Stewart and Mrs Laxton on TV at Newmarket races when he was meant to be in a meeting.
Jailing him for four years yesterday, Judge Stuart Bridge said: ‘You failed to provide quality of education in staff development and resources, to the detriment of the reputation of the college.
‘It is impossible to calculate the impact of your conduct. You are paid to exercise discipline, to lead and get respect from children, staff and parents. You conducted yourself in such a way you became something of a joke.
‘You appear now quite rightly a man humiliated by his actions.’ Stewart, who admitted misconduct in a public office and six fraud charges, resigned in July 2014, weeks after his school was placed in special measures following an Ofsted inspection.
Speaking after the hearing, Detective Constable Al Bassam said: ‘ The office was described as being set up like an apartment.
‘There was a hand- crafted dresser and several cupboards containing glasses and... custom-made oak furniture.
‘There was a sink and toilet described as being the “inner sanctum”, which had been partitioned with towels and rugs on it. Within there, items of a sexual nature were found.’ These included watermelon-flavoured lubricant and a sexually-charged charades game.
The sentencing hearing at Huntingdon Law Courts in Cambridgeshire heard that Stewart spent more than £41,000 on food and drink, including restaurants near his home in Bedford, and nearly £ 9,000 on electrical items including three televisions, cameras and laptops.
He also splashed out £4,800 of school funds on ‘leisure activities’, including hotels in London and items of an ‘adult nature’. More than £10,000 was paid out on garden centres and thousands more on private car insurance, a phone bill, newspaper and magazine subscriptions and wine club membership.
Stewart, a grandfather and married father of four, was headteacher for nearly 30 years at the secondary school, earning more than £120,000.
Staff described Stewart as a ‘racist, sexist, fattist bully’ who boasted that his management style was to ‘divide and conquer’.
Huntingdon Crown Court in Cambridgeshire heard the school was left in a ‘dire financial position’ by the fraud, which began in 2009, and had ‘haemorrhaged staff’.
Stewart, who rarely arrived at work before 10.30am, repaid all the misused funds in September 2014. His wife is said to be standing by him.
Former vice principal Alan Stevens, 66, also admitted committing fraud through misuse of his position.
Stevens, who made bogus claims worth £364, was given a 24-week suspended sentence and ordered to do 80 hours of unpaid work.
The court heard how both men had their fraudulent claims rubber-stamped by the school governing body’s ‘responsible officer’ John Kelly, who has since died.
School bursar Lisa Killner said Kelly ‘ just did what Stewart asked him’.
‘Racist, sexist, fattist bully’