Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Teacher faces fresh claims after sex abuse conviction
Police receive reports after former staff member is jailed Exclusive
Former pupils of the Chaucer School have come forward to police with claims that they were abused by a teacher in the 1980s, the Gazette can reveal.
Fresh allegations against former English teacher Martin Haigh have surfaced after he was jailed in March for historical sex offences against young boys at a boarding school.
A court heard the 67-year-old had encouraged pupils at Ashdown House in East Sussex to take part in nude parades and sex games with each other between 1973 and 1975.
After learning of his conviction, former Chaucer pupils have reported to Kent Police that they too were abused when Haigh taught at the Spring Lane school in the early 1980s.
It is thought Haigh started teaching at the Canterbury school in the late 1970s. It closed three years ago.
Detectives in East Sussex first started probing Haigh after allegations by former Ashdown House pupils in January 2014.
Haigh, who lived in Brighton, was eventually charged with five indecent assaults and six counts of gross indecency against four boys aged between seven and 12.
He admitted offences against two of the pupils, as well as having indecent images of children on his computer, but forced his other victims to endure a trial.
One man, now in his 50s, told the court in a written statement: “I have often wondered how my life would have turned out if I had not been abused by Martin Haigh.”
The prosecution asked Haigh why he had groomed the boys he admitted assaulting. He said he had selected the ones who were most attentive in class, and that it was because he was seeking their friendship.
He was convicted of all the offences he denied and was jailed for 11 years, with an additional year for the possession of indecent images.
He was put on the sex offenders register for life and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order, severely restrict- ing his access to children and computers. DC Paul Deadman said; “This was a complex and protracted investigation, during which it became clear that Haigh had systematically taken advan- tage of the trust of young and vulnerable boys to abuse them for his own sexual gratification.” One former Chaucer pupil who this week made an official crime report to police has encouraged other potential victims of Haigh to come forward.
He told the Gazette: “However long has passed, Haigh should still be held accountable for his actions.” Another former pupil recalled Haigh as “a very, very odd bloke” who regularly brought up sex in class discussions.”
Kent Police did not confirm or deny if individuals are being investigated prior to them being charged. To report a historical crime call police on 101.