Teacher exposed himself and filmed child sex abuse
A TEACHER from Hutchesons’ Grammar was slammed by a judge for exploiting his position as he was jailed and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life for making his own images of child sexual abuse.
Craig Wood, 52, forced children to expose themselves to him in webcam chats online – before exposing himself to them – and recorded the abuse, making one video which was nearly two hours long.
But he refused to apologise to the children he abused when he arrived at Paisley Sheriff Court to learn his fate.
He hid behind a large hood and scarf, covering so much of his face he could not see where he was going and collided with a bin as he entered the building.
But he could not hide from his crimes – which saw him abusing girls the same age as the ones he taught – and was jailed for three years for the offences by Sheriff Susan Sinclair, reduced from four as he admitted his guilt.
The sheriff slammed Wood – who was working at the £11,000-per-year school when he was arrested – and said he had been able to abuse the children because of information he gleaned while working.
She said: “Over a period of twoand-a-half years you were able to contact females between the age of nine and 15, i n the context of some form of web communication.
“You have exposed yourself to these children and created videos of this and their participation in it, as a result of information sent by you.”
Wood, formerly a maths teacher at Paisley Grammar, recorded young girls performing sex acts on themselves – and himself exposing his privates to them.
When he was caught, police found nearly 1000 indecent images of young girls on his computer, created using apps called Flashing and P**** Pokey.
Wood chatted to girls online – then “rewarded” them for what they were doing by exposing himself to them once they had finished.
The details emerged last month when Wood admitted his guilt during a pre-trial hearing at Paisley Sheriff Court.
He was suspended when arrested and later resigned.
Last month he admitted making “indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children” at his home in Morven Avenue, Glenburn, Paisley, between August 3, 2014, and February 23, last year, and admitted charges of possessing child porn and forcing children to expose themselves to him.
A spokesperson for Hutchesons’ Grammar School said: “A member of staff at the Secondary School was immediately suspended when we became aware of the criminal charges.
“He no longer works at the school having left last year.
“Police Scotland has advised us that our pupils and staff have not been, and are not, at risk.
“All the relevant and required checks were carried out at his time of employment. These were satisfactory.”