Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Disgraced teacher receives jail term
A primary teacher has been sentenced to 18 months in prison for filming up the skirts of young girls at the school where he taught.
Disgraced principal teacher James Hughes, 54, used his phone and iPad to record pupils between June and October last year after taking them for out-of-class one-to-one lessons.
He instructed the young children to stand on chairs and put their legs in the air while he recorded them under a desk at the Monklands school, which cannot be named for legal reasons.
Twisted Hughes was only caught when three teenage girls, who were at the school on work experience, discovered him also filming them.
One of the girls snuck into
his office to check his tablet device and subsequently blew the whistle on his appalling actions by reporting them to the headteacher.
Hughes was found to have taken at least 260 images and 79 recordings, which were discovered during a police raid on his Uddingston home.
Before sentencing Hughes yesterday , Sheriff Petra Collins said his actions included a “significant degree of manipulation and planning” and that an alternative to a custodial sentence was not an option.
During proceedings, defence counsel Gavin Anderson, advocate, spent more than 45 minutes outlining the mental welfare of his client.
He said: “We have the opinions of three doctors in these reports which all point to bipolar disorder.
“He did not seek sexual gratification from his actions. The driver of it is the excitement from the risk of being caught – that is where the gratification is derived. And that is in line with suffering from bipolar disorder.”
Mr Anderson went on: “My client publicly expresses his unreserved apology for these matters. That apology is not only for the court but also for the children, families and his former colleagues.”
Addressing Sheri f f Collins, he added: “A custodial sentence may be at the forefront of your mind, but it is my submission that the court consider the unsusual background of the case.”
Despite the detailed explanation of the circumstances surrounding his client’s crimes, Sheriff Collins remained unimpressed.
She told Hughes: “These offences occurred at a primary school – a place where pupils should feel safe.
“A significant amount of manipulation and planning went into this and you abused your position of trust.
“They, and their families, now have to work through the consequences of your behaviour.
“I accept you have mental health difficulties, although I’m not convinced how linked they are to your offending.
“I have no alternative but to impose a custodial sentence. This will be for a length of 18 months and you will be on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.”