Teacher spared jail over filming

A Bristol teacher, found guilty of filming young girls in their underwear, has escaped a jail sentence.

Richard Green, 44, was convicted last month on six counts of making an indecent photograph between September 2002 and July 2003.

On Thursday, Judge David Ticehurst sentenced him to a three-year community rehabilitation order.

Green, from Cock Road in Kingswood, near Bristol, had presided over extra-curricular drama classes.

Judge Ticehurst told Green: "You are in my view a potential danger to children and you shouldn't have anything to do with them."

During the trial, Bristol Crown Court heard how Green filmed teenage girls changing for rehearsals at school and at his home.

He told the jury that classes were often disrupted by young teenagers causing trouble on the school grounds and claimed he had set up the video camera to catch the youths.

The material only came to light when some members of the drama group viewed one of the video cassettes.

Green maintained his innocence throughout the trial but made an "11th hour" admission of responsibility in a report prepared by a probation officer for sentencing.

Judge Ticehurst told Green he had a "warped special interest in young girls" but said that jailing him would not help society.