Multi-millionaire heir to bakery giant is jailed for sex abuse of boys
THE multi-millionaire son of the founder of bakery giant Greggs was jailed for 13m years yesterday for abusing boys.
Twisted Colin Gregg, 75, was branded a “sophisticated, predatory paedophile” who abused his position of trust as a private school head to target victims.
Gregg was convicted of nine counts of indecent assault on four boys over a period of decades. Each boy was under 15 when he molested them.
Gregg, who helped build up the family business and also worked as a social worker, was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court after a trial in Leeds.
In the late 1990s he was cleared at a trial of groping a boy. More complaints were made by alleged victims but a judge ruled that he should not face trial.
The grey-haired pensioner, who has been married to wife Carol for 50 years and has three daughters, had denied all the charges.
He claimed he was the target of a “witch hunt” and that the victims were looking for compensation. Gregg grew wealthy from his family business and helped to raise thousands of pounds for children’s charities, the court was told.
Passing sentence, Judge Robin Mairs said Gregg had shown nothing but contempt for his victims in their childhood or adult life. The judge said: “You were a charismatic, inspiring teacher and mentor but you used those attributes to groom boys and to protect yourself from allegations.”
Gregg taught at prestigious Durham School, which he had attended as a boy. The Greggs bakery business was started by his father John in 1939 and was still a “modest outfit” when Colin began working there in 1967. He helped forge the national bakery chain before making a fortune launching it as a public company.
In 1970 Gregg, of Gosforth, Newcastle, returned to working with children but continued to work for the bakery during the holidays and stayed on the board.
The following year he became a social worker, then head of Talbot House, a school for what he termed “delinquent children”.
He later became head of the junior school at King’s School, Tynemouth, and in 1989 became director and administrator of a children’s charity.
Judge Mairs said there was not a shred of remorse in Gregg.
His trial in Leeds heard that Gregg abused one victim in a swimming pool and others in a gym, his study and a car.
His defence was that the complainants were fantasists and liars, but the judge said the jurors had heard their evidence and were convinced it was the defendant who was lying.