Paedophile teacher free to strike again
A PRIMARY teacher abused six pupils after returning to the classroom just months after he ‘got away with’ similar offences at a previous school.
In court Jonathan Clayton, 27, was branded a predator who was unable to resist girls aged seven to 11.
He faced prosecution while working at a school in 2017 but the case was dropped and the accusations were not passed on to his new employer.
His new head was horrified when told of the previous allegations at an emergency safeguarding meeting called after six girls complained of being abused by him.
Leered
Yesterday at Teesside Crown Court he was found guilty of 13 counts of sexual assault at the second school.
Police were told that at his first school Clayton fixated on certain girls, creating excuses to touch and cuddle them and bounce them on his knee.
One eight-year-old said he put his hand up her skirt – but her evidence was not deemed strong enough for a court case to proceed.
The Crown Prosecution Service ordered he be found not guilty at
Durham Crown Court. The decision followed a statement from the girl’s mother saying she sometimes made up stories for attention.
Clayton had told police his young accuser was “scheming”.
Richard Bennett, prosecuting, told the court: “The prosecution say he knew precisely what he had done and what he had got away with.
“He is a man who is sexually attracted to little girls aged between seven and 11. He can’t resist them.”
Mr Bennett said his next school was not told he had been investigated for child sex offences.
The prosecutor added: “The unsuspecting staff had no idea that this new, engaging enthusiastic, charismatic male teacher had, but a year before he arrived, been facing a very serious sex offence.”
Clayton, from Carlton, Stocktonon-Tees, had denied sexually assaulting six girls aged between seven and 11 in a six-week period last year.
The girls began complaining that he would touch them whilst helping them dress after PE, even though they had not asked for or needed help.
He also patted girls on the bottom as they stood at his desk and leered at them from behind his laptop.
Judge Howard Crowson remanded Clayton in custody until he is sentenced on February 26 after police learned he had attempted to apply for teaching jobs in China after his arrest.
A spokesman for supply agency Vision for Education said: “We ensure all statutory safeguarding checks are carried out for every candidate.
“The school where the first allegations were made expressly confirmed the candidate was suitable to work with children and that they would recommend him for employment.”