Jailed, head teacher who confessed to abusing boy
A FORMER headteacher has been jailed after admitting a string of child sex offences. Scot Neal McGowan admitted sexually abusing a boy when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court yesterday.
The 54-year-old worked at three schools in Scotland before taking up various positions in England.
He also worked with ministers on a report into classroom indiscipline in the early stages of the Scottish parliament in 2000 – the document is still a benchmark for the school system.
But McGowan, from Edinburgh, was arrested in March 2016 and appeared in court yesterday. He initially denied two counts of abuse of a position of trust – one for causing or inciting sexual activity with a child aged 13 to 17, and one for causing a child aged 13 to 17 to watch a sexual act – and three counts of making indecent images of a child.
He had been due to stand trial imminently but changed his pleas and was sentenced to ten months in prison by Judge Emma Peters.
He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for ten years.
Sentencing him, the judge said: ‘What has been outlined to me can be characterised as a spectacular fall from grace. You succumbed to the sort of temptation that every teacher knows they should not allow themselves to be tempted by.’
Judge Peters noted McGowan had contributed to the world of education in the most ‘magnificent of ways’, such as helping the Scottish Government with policies and procedures, but she added: ‘You seem to have forgotten everything you knew about what was right and everything you knew about how to educate and how to lead, and you allowed yourself to become engaged in these conversations and which involved the exchange of intimate images.’
McGowan taught at schools in Oxfordshire, London and Beijing before becoming headteacher at an Essex school, which suspended him after his arrest.
Following his sentencing, an NSPCC Scotland spokesman said: ‘McGowan had a duty to protect children but instead he carried out appalling child sex offences.
‘Abuse ruins childhoods and its effects can last long into adult life, so it’s right that he is now behind bars where he cannot harm others.
‘We hope McGowan’s victim is now receiving all available support. It is vital that all victims of abuse feel confident to speak out about their attackers and receive justice for the crimes carried out against them.’
‘Appalling child sex offences’