Clive Bartram, 58, who taught biology at Ibstock Place School in Roehampton, has been jailed for seven and a half years for sexually exploiting girls online.
He was sentenced at Croydon Crown Court last month after admitting 13 offences, including causing or inciting girls aged 13 to 15 to take part in sexual activity and making indecent images of children. Reports of the case this month described him as a former teacher from Croydon and did not name the school.
He taught in the senior school at Ibstock, the independent school on Clarence Lane and was widely regarded as an excellent teacher. His offences did not involve contact with minors and no pupils at the school were involved. Headmaster Christopher Wolsey confirmed with Putney.news that the offences “did not relate to the School”.
Police said Bartram contacted children directly online and offered them gift vouchers and other incentives for indecent images. He also used photographs of a vulnerable person he knew to create fake online identities and talk to children, telling that person it was “their secret”.
Detectives identified five victims aged between 14 and 16, who had been targeted online. At the time, the Met said, Bartram “was employed as a secondary school teacher, placing him in a position of trust with young people”.
Arrest
He was arrested at his home on a Sunday in June last year, three weeks before the end of term, and did not return to the school. Parents were only informed in recent days the reason behind his sudden departure.
When officers searched his home they seized phones, laptops and USB devices. He at first denied having another phone. Police later found it in a neighbour’s garden, thrown from a window.
Specialists who examined his devices and online storage found what police called a significant quantity of indecent images of children, some of them in Category A, the most serious kind.
As well as the prison sentence, he was given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order, a court order that can limit his internet use and contact with children. He must register with police as a sex offender, and he is barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.
Wolsey said the school was “horrified by Mr Bartram’s appalling offences” and commended the bravery of his victims in bringing him to justice. He said the school recognised the news had been upsetting for the whole community, and that specialist pastoral support is in place for pupils who need it.
Where to get help
If you are worried that a child is being contacted or exploited online, you can report it to CEOP, the National Crime Agency’s child protection command, at ceop.police.uk. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999.
Adults worried about a child can call the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000. Children and young people can talk to Childline free on 0800 1111. Rape Crisis runs a support line, open 24 hours a day, on 0808 500 2222.
