PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHER JAILED FOR CHILD ABUSE
A former deputy head teacher at a school attended by Prince George and Princess Charlotte has been sentenced to prison for child sexual abuse crimes.Matthew Smith, aged 35 and residing in East Dulwich, southeast London, financed the abuse of younger children by two teenagers in India, paying out £65,000 for their involvement.
Having been arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in November 2022, Smith admitted to 22 charges related to his offences.
On Wednesday, he received a 12-year prison term at Southwark Crown Court.
Smith’s arrest came just months after he had been appointed deputy head responsible for pastoral care at Thomas’s prep school in Battersea, a school attended by Prince George and Princess Charlotte until their transfer to Lambrook School in Windsor last September.
During his arrest, Smith was discovered communicating online with a teenage boy in India, where he was requesting the boy to send sexual images of a younger child in exchange for money.
Authorities found more than 120,000 indecent images of children stored across a laptop, SD card, and mobile phone.
Throughout most of his offending period, Smith was living in Nepal, working at a school, and also spent time volunteering in orphanages and NGOs across India from 2007 to 2014.
He returned to the UK in July 2022 and began his employment at Thomas’s Battersea in September, according to the NCA.
Before starting his job, Smith posted an online ad seeking a flat share, claiming he was a primary school teacher willing to help with childcare.
However, he was arrested before he could settle into that arrangement.
The NCA stated there was no evidence linking Smith’s criminal activities to children in Nepal or the UK.
He pleaded guilty to 22 charges, including encouraging the rape of a child under 13, inciting a child under 13 to participate in sexual acts, and orchestrating the sexual abuse of a minor.
Smith is now under an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and has been registered as a sex offender for life.
