Hogwarts’ head snared meeting lad, 15, for sex SIR AT £12,000-A-YEAR SCHOOL CAUGHT BY PAEDO HUNTER
THE head of a £12,000-a-year private boarding school has been sacked and faces jail after he tried to meet a 15-year-old boy for sex in a car park.
Glyn Knowles, who likened his teaching style to that of the Hogwarts Academy in the Harry Potter movies, sent sexually explicit messages and snaps via the gay dating app Grindr.
Knowles, 50, thought he was chatting to a child but it was actually a self-styled paedophile hunter who had tipped off police.
Now the Oxford-educated head’s glittering career lies in tatters.
Bosses at his prestigious Cambridge International School informed parents of his conviction and removed any trace of him from its website.
Knowles, who astonishingly was also the school’s child protection officer, was in court last Monday and faces prison when he is sentenced next month.
The man who caught Knowles runs the sting operation Child Sexual Exploitation Interceptors.
He created a fake profile of a 15- year- old boy called Dan on Grindr earlier this month.
Knowles, of Puckeridge, Herts, contacted Dan’s profile.
In his messages the teacher discussed oral sex, asked if Dan had touched boys before and requested a naked photo.
He also asked when the boy’s mother would be out.
The sting mastermind, a father of two, told the Sunday People: “He sent a photo of himself lying on a duvet and another wearing boxer shorts.
“At this point we had no idea he was a teacher.”
The hunter, who wishes to remain anonymous, arranged to meet the head in a car park in Bishop’s Stortford, Herts, where police were waiting for him.
Knowles, who taught children from 32 different countries at the international school, was arrested on July 14.
His laptops and phone were confiscated and he was charged the same day.
Knowles pleaded guilty at Hatfield Remand Court to attempting to meet a boy under 16 following grooming.
Fastest
He was sacked from the boarding school with immediate effect. Nick Rugg, of the International School Partnership which manages the school, says Knowles was not involved with any student at the school. The head had written online: “Science is often described by some of my teaching colleagues as being magic and like Hogwarts. I agree completely.” His conviction is the latest in a series secured by CSE Interceptors in the past three months. The man who caught him said: “This was the fastest conviction I’ve seen, maybe because of the guy’s position. I couldn’t believe it when police told me what he did for a living.” One parent said: “The most bizarre thing is that he was the school child protection officer.” Knowles will be sentenced on August 18 at St Alban’s Crown Court.