TEACHER FREED IN SEX CASE
Conviction for abusing boys is quashed
Former East Kilbride maths teacher Ronald Burton has won an appeal against his conviction for sexually abusing two schoolboys.
The 61-year-old exassistant principal teacher has
returned to his Stewartfield home having spent just eight months behind bars after the High Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh ruled there had been a miscarriage of justice.
Mr Burton, right, had been found guilty of grooming and sexually abusing two boys at secondary schools in South Lanarkshire at a trial and was jailed for six years.
The family of one of his accusers described the court of appeal’s decision as a “sickening” blow.
A former East Kilbride teacher who was jailed for sexually abusing schoolboys has been released from prison after his conviction and six-year sentence was quashed. Ronald Burton was found guilty of grooming and sexually abusing two boys at secondary schools in South Lanarkshire. But, after spending just eight months behind bars, the 61-year-old ex-maths teacher returned to his Stewartfield home after Edinburgh’s High Court of Justiciary upheld his appeal. The news came as a “sickening” blow to his accusers who endured a week-long trial at the High Court in Glasgow last August. Condemning the decision, the family of one of the accusers sent a statement to the News. And they said: “We do not feel let down by the police or the judiciary but by the law itself.” The News understands there is no chance of a retrial. The Lord Justice Clerk, Lady Leeona Dorrian said that Mr Burton was convicted after trial of sexual offences committed against two school pupils.
The Crown relied on the operation of the Moorov doctrine for conviction.
The principle means that a number of offences witnessed by only one person can be grouped together to show a pattern of behaviour and could be used in a court case.
But Lady Dorrian highlighted that the temporal gap between the offences, at its shortest, was just under 17 years.
She said: “The grounds of appeal presented are first, that the trial judge erred in repelling a no case to answer submission, there being insufficient evidence to indicate that the incidents both formed part of a course of conduct on the part of the appellant.
“Second, (a) that the judge’s charge was inadequate, in that it failed sufficiently to emphasise the need for strikingly compelling similarities to exist before the Moorov doctrine could be applied to incidents separated by such a gap in time, satisfying the need to prove a course of conduct; and (b) that there being no evidence of compelling features consistent with such a course of conduct, no reasonable jury could have concluded otherwise and have convicted.”
The court was told that he lavished gifts on the pair — including underwear and gym memberships. Mr Burton was arrested in 2014 after being confronted by his first accuser, now a father-of-three, who battled drug addiction before reporting the matter to police.
Mr Burton, an ex-assistant principal teacher, was fired by South Lanarkshire Council when the allegations came to light but he maintained his innocence throughout his trial.
Lady Dorrian said: “It was argued that the circumstances were such that the trial judge was correct to leave the decision to the jury. However, it has been repeatedly stated that the rule of mutual corroboration must be approached with caution, and this especially when there are only two complainers.
“In the present case there is the added factor of a 17-year interval between the respective accounts. We are satisfied that the issue should have been withdrawn from the jury. In the circumstances the appeal must succeed.”
In a statement, the family of one of Mr Burton’s accusers said: “Although nothing could ever give us back what was taken from us, when Lady Scott read out that Burton was to spend six years behind bars for the misery that he has caused us, our family felt justice had been done.
“After only eight months behind bars, a third of the time it took for the case to go before a judge and jury, to be told that Burton would walk free on a legal technicality, we were sickened. Worst of all was that his name would now be taken off the sex offenders register.
“In a last-ditch attempt to protect and console the children of our family we have contacted a lawyer to take out an interdict against Burton but have been advised that this would most likely not be upheld by a sheriff until we could prove he was a clear and present danger to our family.
“We do not feel let down by the police or the judiciary but by the law itself. Having done a little research we have found out that several convicted sex offenders have walked free on appeal due to them being able to prove that the Moorov Doctrine does not apply to their case.
“With the prevalence of sexual abuse cases coming to the fore in present years with operations Yewtree and Hydrant our family feel it is about time someone had a look at how these people are walking free due to the Moorov not being applicable.
“We feel that the real miscarriage of justice is allowing these predators to walk free after being found guilty by a judge and jury.”
A Crown Office spokesman said: “We note the decision of the court.”
We feel let down by the law itself . . .