Ex-teacher spared jail over abuse of children

A FORMER Celtic Boys’ Club chairman convicted of sexually abusing four boys and a girl while he was a teacher has been spared jail.

Gerald King, 66, was instead ordered to carry out work in the community as his punishment.

The court heard he had taught and coached football at a primary school in the north of Glasgow during the 1980s,

King’s conviction came weeks after Celtic Boys’ Club founder Jim Torbett was jailed for a second time for abusing boys. The next week, a former manager of the club, Frank Cairney, 83, was found guilty at Hamilton Sheriff Court of abusing teenagers between 1965 and 1986.

After a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court, King was convicted of five charges of using lewd and libidinous practises towards the five victims between August 1984 and April 1989. He was also found guilty of taking indecent pictures of children in February 1987.

Yesterday King, who was also a coach at Celtic Boys’ Club, was given a three-year probation order.

Sheriff Johanna Johnston, QC, said: ‘You were convicted by the jury of a number of sexual offences involving school pupils, you were their teacher at the time.’

King must carry out 240 hours of unpaid work and will also be on the sex offenders’ register for five years. His victims were between nine and 13 years old.

One man, now 43, told how King exposed himself to him when he was getting changed and told prosecutor Adele Macdonald: ‘I was really uncomfortable’.