Former teacher jailed for sex abuse of pupils
Aformer private school house master who sexually abused four of his pupils will spend Christmas behind bars.
Peter Webb would sneak into dormitories to fondle the boys while they slept at Christ’s Hospital School in Horsham, West Sussex.
The children would wake to find the teacher staring at them through the darkness with his hands in their pyjama bottoms.
Webb also pushed himself up against one of the boys during a woodwork class.
Judge Christine Henson described his crimes as a “gross abuse of trust” when she jailed the 74-year-old for four years at Hove Crown Court yesterday.
Webb pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecently assaulting the boys over a decade during the 1970s and 1980s. His youngest victim was 11-years old. One of the boys saw him as a father figure after losing his own at a young age.
Webb, who now lives in AuthonEbeon, France, thought his actions would cause less distress because they were asleep, the court heard.
Judge Henson said the nature of his offending was “serious and repeated”, adding: “You used your good character, your status as a teacher and latterly as a house master to allow you to commit these sexual offences against young pupils.”
Dressed in a striped shirt, burgundy tie and green fleece, Webb held his head in his hands and shut his eyes while details of his crimes were read to the court. But during a brief recess, he made a joke with the dock officer.
One of his victims said he still wakes up in “sheer panic”, convinced someone is standing over him, and distrusts authority figures.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, he said: “I didn’t want this to define who I am. But I’ve never been able to shake the experience off completely.”
This is the second time Webb who taught at the school between 1965 and 1984, serving as a house master from 1981 - has gone to prison. He served 18 months in 2015 after admitting similar offences against another schoolboy.