A supply teacher has been sent to prison for eight-and-a-half years for sexually assaulting six girls at a North Yorkshire school.
Jonathan Philip Clayton, aged 27, from Carlton, Stockton-on-Tees, was found guilty on all 13 sexual touching charges on 4 February 2020 following a trial at Teesside Crown Court.
At the sentencing today (Monday 27 April 2020), Clayton also received an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
The offences were committed between March and May 2019 while Clayton was working as a supply teacher.
The brave victims, whose anonymity is protected by law, were aged between 7 and 11.
For legal reasons the school can not be named.
Detective Constable Gillian Gowling, the North Yorkshire Police officer who led the investigation, said:
Jonathan Clayton is a very manipulative individual who used his trusted position as a teacher to touch these very young and vulnerable girls for his own sexual gratification.
He displayed an extremely worrying pattern of behaviour where he would take advantage of situations that arose at school to put his hands on the victims. This was usually when the youngsters were upset and he carried out the abuse under the guise of providing comforting. There were also occasions when he supposedly ‘helped’ the victims to put on or adjust items of clothing, including tights, when they clearly did not require such help.
Due to the young age of the victims involved, it has been a complex and sensitive investigation. I hope that the outcome at court will help these very brave girls and their families to move on from this terrible experience, safe in the knowledge that justice has been served against the man responsible and he will never be allowed to teach children again.
