Ex-teacher jailed for abuse... 40 years on
‘Deplorable and predatorial’
A RETIRED music teacher who abused two pupils 40 years ago has been jailed for four years.
William Wright, 78, a married father of three, preyed on the teenagers while they were pupils at a school in Renfrewshire.
One victim told a jury she was ‘terrified’ of Wright. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she felt helpless at being unable to object to the abuse because she needed his help to get through exams.
Wright, of Elderslie, Renfrewshire, was sent to prison yesterday after the judge said he needed to be punished for his ‘deplorable and predatorial’ crimes.
At the High Court in Edinburgh, Lord Arthurson told the pensioner he had no other option but to reject his lawyer Mark Moir’s request for a noncustodial sentence.
He said: ‘This court needs to hold you to account for your deplorable and predatorial conduct in respect of the crimes you have committed.
‘Your behaviour has caused your victims, who are now aged in their fifties, significant and lasting psychological problems.
‘Your conviction has been catastrophic for you.
‘Nonetheless, this court needs to impose a significant custodial sentence.’
During proceedings at the High Court in Glasgow last month, the grandfather of eight claimed he had ‘no explanation’ why the women would make such allegations.
Wright, who sometimes plays the organ at Elderslie Kirk, said: ‘It just wasn’t me. Simple as that, it just wasn’t me.’
But jurors convicted him of two charges of using lewd and libidinous practices and behaviour and a charge of indecent assault towards the women between August 1974 and June 1981.
A police probe into Wright had led to the women, now aged 54 and 57, being tracked down.
The 54-year-old victim fought back tears in court as she said she was ‘too afraid’ to speak up at the time, adding: ‘I was terrified of him – he was a man who had a temper and I just didn’t put up any objection.
‘I was 13 or 14 years of age. At this stage I decided I wanted to do music when I left school – I needed him.
‘There was nobody to go to, it was only him. There was nobody else you could do your music lessons with.’
Wright turned up for sentencing with a sports bag carrying his personal possessions.
Mr Moir said his client maintained he was innocent of any wrongdoing but accepted the verdicts of the jury.