TERRENCE WATERS FROM DRIFFIELD SENTENCED FOR DECADES OF ABUSE IN EAST YORKSHIRE

Terrence James Waters, aged 82 and a resident of Driffield in East Yorkshire, has been sentenced to a lengthy prison term after a series of heinous crimes spanning over a decade. On the 26th of March, Hull Crown Court handed down a 15-year imprisonment sentence to Waters following his guilty plea and subsequent conviction on 36 counts of historical sexual offenses. These offenses include indecent assault, acts of indecency with a minor, and buggery, all committed against young boys during the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.

Waters’s victims, 14 in total, ranged in age from just seven to thirteen years old at the time of the abuse. They provided compelling testimonies that detailed how Waters exploited his position of trust and authority to prey on them. The majority of these assaults involved 12 of his former pupils and occurred between 1978 and 1984. Additional abuse was inflicted on two other boys at various locations, including Waters’s residence in Old Woking, between 1984 and 1988.

Prior to the trial, Waters had already admitted to some of the charges. He pleaded guilty to 20 counts of indecent assault and seven counts of indecency with a child during an earlier hearing. During the course of the trial, he further admitted to five more offenses, including gross indecency with a child and four additional counts of indecent assault. The jury also found him guilty of four other charges, which included indecent assault, gross indecency with a minor, and two counts of buggery.

Waters exploited his role as an educator to target vulnerable boys, often conducting his abuse in secluded areas of the school premises. The art building, situated away from the main school structure and equipped with a darkroom for developing photographs and a specially constructed loft, served as one of his preferred locations. He also organized camping trips during school holidays, where further abuse took place. Waters would take explicit photographs of his victims, sometimes in exchange for favors or money, or under false pretenses such as claiming the boys were modeling for sculptures or book covers.

One survivor described the long-lasting impact of Waters’s abuse: “I found following the abuse that I avoided making friends with boys and men. I have struggled since that age with my weight as eating became a comfort and would make me forget about things, I suffered with depression and still have this impacting on my life today which requires me to take medication. As a result of what happened to me, I found I repressed my sexuality and missed out on many years of being who I am.”

Another victim, reflecting on the ordeal some 40 years later, expressed gratitude towards the police: “First of all, I would like to thank sincerely Surrey Police in the last five years of this investigation. I would like you to hear the voice of the eleven-year-old child that I was then. Allen House school was a small, seemingly safe prep school, set in beautiful grounds outside Woking. Terry Waters was a popular teacher who used his position of trust to groom and sexually abuse little boys in his care.”

He added, “When the investigation began in 2019, wounds that had closed over 35 years started to reopen. The old sense of guilt, the old sense of secrecy, the old sense of dark favouritism had returned. Some may say that we were complicit, however we were eleven-year-old children, and a child cannot legally consent to sexual activity.”

A further survivor shared the emotional toll: “I cannot explain why it is that I don’t feel angry when I think about what he did to me. I feel empty. When you are abused as a child, abuse seems normal. In later life, you expect abuse, or even subconsciously seek it out. Abuse twists your relationship with the world. It takes a beautiful and innocent time, and it scars it. It changes the way you look at physical relationships. I tried to lock those feelings away. Of course, they come to the surface in other ways.”

Detective Inspector Ross Linaker, who led the investigation, emphasized the importance of justice: “Waters was a sexual predator who used his position as a trusted member of staff at a well-respected school to abuse and violate innocent young boys. The outcome in the court today is the result of a lengthy and complex investigation and shows that no matter how long ago the abuse took place, we will always carry out a thorough investigation to seek justice and ensure perpetrators are punished for their actions.”