Primary school head guilty of sexual assault

Reporter A PRIMARY school head teacher who bought a woman knickers and sent her sexually suggestive emails has been found guilty of sexual assault.

Kevin Thomas denied two counts of sexual assault and faced a trial at Newport Crown Court, during which a jury convicted him of one count and acquitted him of the other.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court Thomas’ behaviour made her feel “scared” and “unsafe”.

Roger Griffiths, prosecuting, said the charges related to the period between May and August 2015.

Thomas became head teacher of Glan-yr-Afon Primary School in Cardiff in 2012.

In a recorded interview with the police, which was played in court, the complainant said: “He would always put his arms around me.”

She added: “At first I did not know how to respond. I did not want this man to fancy me. I most certainly did not fancy him.”

The court heard he sent her emails from his work and personal account.

She said: “Over time they became more and more explicit, more daring.”

In one email the defendant told the woman he had a “lovely dream” about her wearing white knickers.

She told the police he later bought her a pair of white knickers.

During the trial, a friend of the complainant said she was “very distressed” after the defendant grabbed her between the legs.

The witness said her friend told her she was stretching to reach something when Thomas “grabbed her” and laughed.

Mr Griffiths asked: “What state was she in when you saw her?”

The witness replied: “Very distressed, very tearful, very shocked.”

Asked about where the victim indicated the defendant touched her, she said: “She pointed he had grabbed her underneath and pinched.”

Prosecutors said the second incident happened at a party. The witness told the court: “She came back from the toilet, quite distressed.” She said her friend told her: “I hate that man. I hate him.”

The witness said her friend told her that Thomas had “boxed her in” as she left the toilets and “went to grab her”.

Questioned about what state the complainant was in, she replied: “She was again distressed. She was very angry.”

Asked if the alleged victim had “encouraged” Thomas, the witness said she had seen her put her hands up to keep him away and tell him: “It is never going to happen.”

When questioned by Mr Griffiths the defendant said he was not “obsessed” or “infatuated” with the woman.

Mr Griffiths asked Thomas: “You had a one-way obsession with her, didn’t you?”

Thomas denied this was the case and said during the hearing the victim would sometimes initiate hugs or communication.

The defendant’s wife, Donna Thomas, gave evidence in court yesterday and said she had met the alleged victim on multiple occasions.

She told the court that in February 2016 she found a thread of emails on her husband’s phone between him and the victim.

Ms Thomas said: “Initially I was devastated by what I read. I thought they were both having an affair.” Primary school head teacher Kevin Thomas has been found guilty of sexual assault

After finding a telephone number in her husband’s phone Ms Thomas rang the victim’s home.

Ms Thomas said: “I said [to the victim] I had found emails on his phone and I thought they were having an affair, and asked her.

“She was her normal self and bubbly, and she responded: ‘It was something and nothing and it was just Kev.

“It’s nothing and it was just silly and didn’t mean anything.’”

Ms Thomas told the court she had seen the alleged victim “flirting” and being “quite tactile” with her husband.

The victim reported the incidents to Cardiff council in March 2016 and contacted South Wales Police in November that year.

He was suspended from his job in March 2017 after the allegations were made.

Thomas, 47, of Beechley Drive in Fairwater, Cardiff, is due to be sentenced on October 22.