Ex-Carmel teacher guilty of sex abuse

A FORMER teacher has been found guilty of 21 counts of sexually assaulting boys at a Jewish boarding school over a 20-year period. Trevor Bolton, 78, of Clacton-on-Sea in Essex, was charged with 25 counts of indecency and sexual assault committed on eight Carmel College students aged 11 to 15 while he taught at the now-closed school between 1968 and 1988.

The jury at Oxford Crown Court found him guilty on six counts of indecency with a child, and 15 out of 16 counts of indecent assault on a male person.

They failed to return a verdict on another count of indecent assault and three counts of other sexual offences, and, at the time of going to press, were continuing their deliberations. Bolton had denied the charges. Three victims sitting in the public gallery became visibly emotional as the verdicts were handed down, with one shedding tears.

Earlier, the jury had heard how Bolton used his position of authority as head of the junior boys boarding house at the Oxfordshire school to lure vulnerable, homesick boys into his living quarters.

He plied them with biscuits and soft drinks and allowed them to watch films before engaging in non-consensual sexual activities.

One of the victims said that Bolton had stolen his childhood.

The allegations had emerged after the wife of one of the victims posted her husband’s descriptions of abuse on Facebook, leading to other ex-pupils coming forward with their stories.

Summing up for the jury, Judge Ian Pringle noted that two victims had testified that Mr Bolton may have attended their barmitzvahs. “He befriended my parents and became a trusted family friend,” one of them had said.