Deputy head watched live child sex on web after he snorted coke
A DEPUTY head teacher has admitted watching the live sex abuse of children on perverted web forums while high on cocaine.
Paul Newbury, 50, collected more than 2,000 horrendous child abuse images – some of which were of the worst kind.
The music teacher admitted making, possessing and distributing indecent images of children.
He also admitted possessing drugs including cocaine, crystal meth and ‘date rape’ drug GHB, which he took at home while watching online video conferences showing live child abuse.
Newbury watched the live-streaming of a ten-year- old girl being abused on one forum in October 2017, a court heard yesterday.
He used the username ‘north London’, which investigators from the National Crime Agency were later able to pin down to his home in Wood Green, north London.
At the time Newbury was working as the associate head teacher at Acland Burghley School in Camden, north London. He was sacked by the secondary school in March last year following his arrest.
Its former pupils include Sarah Brown, the wife of ex-prime minister Gordon Brown, and the rapper Ms Dynamite.
Newbury had been brought in as the ‘number two’ at the secondary school in 2015 as part of a new management team trying to rebuild the school’s ratings after a series of poor Ofsted reports. Police said there is no evidence to suggest he was in sexual contact with any children and no evidence to link his offending to his former school. He had previously worked as head of music at Camden School for Girls.
After his arrest, police found more than 2,000 child sex abuse images and videos on his iPad and iPhone, including those considered to be Category A – the most severe.
Following the hearing at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court, Graham Ellis, of the National Crime Agency, said: ‘Newbury and men like him who make and distribute horrific images of children are fuelling online child sexual abuse. The scale and severity of this offending against children is worsening.
‘Though his offending was not connected to his school, he is guilty of a tremendous betrayal of trust.’
The ten-year- old victim whose abuse was live-streamed was identified and officials in the US stepped in to protect her.
Newbury admitted four counts of making indecent images of children, one of distributing indecent photographs of children, two counts of possessing class A drugs, possession of a prohibited image, showing an indecent photograph of a child, and possession of an extreme pornographic image.
He will be sentenced at Southwark Crown Court at a date to be fixed.
A Camden Council spokesman said: ‘Extensive checks have confirmed that no inappropriate material was found on any school computer, no child protection concerns have ever been raised, and the NCA inquiry focused on the activities at the individual’s home address.’
‘A tremendous betrayal of trust’