Abuse teacher caught through website

Hamilton-Leggett was trapped through the internet

An ex-teacher who sexually abused schoolboys was trapped through the Friends Reunited website, a court heard on Tuesday.

Peter Hamilton-Leggett of Yelverton, Devon, was jailed for eight years at Swindon Crown Court after admitting 54 sex offences against boys, some as young as eight.

The court had heard that the 58-year-old had twice before been investigated by police following allegations of sex abuse.

Then one man came forward in 2002 and a catalogue of offences carried out at two public schools in Wiltshire and Berkshire in the 1970s and 1980s was uncovered.

The court heard that the Old Ride Preparatory School in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire had since closed, but detectives used the Friends Reunited website to contact former pupils.

Detectives then found they had opened the floodgates, resulting in 19 former pupils pressing charges against their former science master.

I think it is a heavy sentence with a satisfactory element of punishment

Det Sgt David Martin

Some of the offences had been carried out in rooms, corridors and dormitories when other teachers were near or, in one case, when one was banging on his door demanding to know what was happening.

Hamilton-Leggett had claimed he only realised such abuse was wrong when he saw a programmes on children made by Esther Rantzen and he then promptly stopped.

In 1985 he moved to a new school in Tavistock, Devon, where he taught without incident until retiring aged 57 in 2001.

He also married wife Pauline that year.

But it was the following year that a 40-year-old former pupil reported abuse to the Metropolitan Police.

Failed relationships

Det Sgt David Martin, of Wiltshire Police, was commended by the judge for his "professional and persistent" work in the case, during which he contacted some 200 former pupils - many via the Internet and e-mail.

The court heard many of the victims had been left with a legacy of problems including failed relationships, sexual hang-ups, drinking problems and attempted suicide.

Sentencing Hamilton-Leggett to a total of eight years' imprisonment - eight for buggery offences, four years for serious sexual assault and gross indecency and two years for indecent assault offences, to run concurrently - Judge Longbottom said he had shown "a complete abuse of trust".

As he was led down to start his sentence, Hamilton-Leggett turned to his wife in court and said: "Bye, I love you, darling."

After the hearing, Det Sgt Martin said: "I think it is a heavy sentence with a satisfactory element of punishment and, hopefully, the victims will feel some justice has been served here today."