A serious case review has been launched to determine whether authorities could have intervened sooner to prevent a primary school teacher from sexually assaulting pupils as young as six, allegedly over a period of more than a decade. Nigel Leat, 51, was jailed indefinitely for abusing children he taught at Hillside First School in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, often in the presence of other pupils, and for secretly filming his attacks.
Leat groomed at least one girl per year, showering them with gifts, affording them privileges, and organising one-on-one teaching sessions. He swore his victims to secrecy and wrote letters describing what he wanted to do to them, asking them to reply. He admitted 36 offences involving five pupils aged six to eight over five years, including sexual assault, attempted rape, voyeurism, and possessing extreme pornography. Police believe he could have been charged with as many as 500 offences and that the abuse spanned 12 years.
After sentencing, North Somerset Council revealed that headteacher Chris Hood had been suspended and an independent serious case review was underway. A council spokesman said: 'This will examine the circumstances around what has happened and will help us answer the question on most parents' lips: Could action have been taken earlier that would have prevented abuse?' The headteacher was suspended after concerns about leadership and management, but no police investigation of other staff is ongoing.
At Bristol Crown Court, Judge Neil Ford QC sentenced Leat to an indefinite term, requiring him to serve at least eight and a half years. Leat will only be released when experts deem him safe. The judge described Leat's manipulation as 'clever, cunning, and insidious' and noted that Leat told a psychiatrist he could not stop, describing the abuse as an obsession. The abuse went undetected until December last year, when a victim told her mother. Leat was arrested within hours, and police found hundreds of films of abuse on memory sticks in his classroom.
Leat had been warned in 2008 about being too 'tactile' with girls, and a parent once expressed concern after he asked a pupil about having a webcam, but these concerns were not passed to authorities. Detective Superintendent Geoff Wessell called it the 'worst breach of trust' he had encountered. The review is expected to be completed by autumn.
