Ex-teacher jailed for abusing boys

AFORMER teacher has been jailed for a series of indecent assaults on young boys. Robert Lippiatt, 76, abused four boys during the 1970s, causing them profound psychological harm.

The pensioner had denied the charges against him but was convicted following a trial at Swansea Crown Court – where his victims relived their childhood ordeals as they gave evidence.

Yesterday Lippiatt, of Penybont Road, Pencoed, Bridgend, was sentenced to four years in prison and put on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life.

It is the second time the defendant has been jailed for sexually abusing children. In 1994 he was sentenced to seven years for indecently assaulting several young boys.

Robin Rouch, for the prosecution, read impact statements from the victims of Lippiatt’s 1970s offending.

One described how the abuse he suffered “damaged my young mind”, leaving him anxious and confused about his sexuality. He described how he turned to alcohol in his early teens – later becoming an alcoholic – and how found it hard to trust people.

He added: “I will never know how my life would have turned out if he had not abused me.”

Another said he came from a generation of men who didn’t talk about their emotions, and had found it difficult to live with what Lippiatt had done to him.

He said: “I have cried more in the three days after giving evidence than I have in the last 30 years. I have found it hard to come to terms with not being as strong as I once believed I was.”

Another of the victims said that after the abuse he turned to alcohol and drugs to “block out” what had happened, and became an “aggressive and unruly” youngster. He said his life became a “living hell”.

The fourth victim said he had never gotten over what Lippiatt had done to him, saying the defendant “robbed me of his childhood”, and left him “feeling I was not a good person”. He said he was left wondering what kind of life he would have led, and what he would have achieved, if the defendant had not done what he did.

Barrister Matthew Roberts, for Lippiatt, said the man before the court was a different man from the one who carried out the abuse. He said he was a father, grandfather, and loving husband.

Mr Roberts said probation had assessed the defendant as being a “low risk” of re-offending.

Judge Keith Thomas said it was clear the abuse Lippiatt was guilty of had had a “serious and lasting effect” on the boys.

But he said it was not a simple sentencing exercise as he had to have in mind the different laws that applied at the time of the offending, and what kind of sentence the defendant would have received had he been sentenced for both sets of offending at the time of his first conviction.

Lippiatt was sentenced to a total of four years in prison, and was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for an indefinite period.