LUTTERWORTH College bosses have been quick to offer reassurance to parents after the conviction of a pervert teacher.
James Luff, former Head of Biology at the college, was given a 12-month suspended prison sentence for a string of child pornography offences, and for asking a 13-year-old girl for topless photographs. He was arrested in April last year after police seized a computer from his attic.
During a trial at Leicester Crown Court, the 32-year-old admitted downloading hundreds of indecent images of children and attempting to incite a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity back in 2014.
Investigations into the teacher’s online activity showed not just illegal images downloaded from the internet, but social media activity including conversations with schoolchildren.
One conversation, between Luff and a 13-year-old girl, involved him asking for sexually explicit images.
Luff was handed a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, added to the sex offenders’ register and ordered to join a rehabilitation programme.
A statement from the college said Luff was immediately suspended from the school, which caters for 11 to 19 year-olds, on the day of his arrest and did not enter school premises while his charges were active.
The statement read: “Mr Luff was employed by the Lutterworth Academies Trust as head of biology for Lutterworth College between August 2013 and November 2015.
“Mr Luff was subject to the disciplinary procedures of the trust. The dismissal process did not commence until the police had progressed their investigation to a suitable point.
“Mr Luff was then dismissed following a meeting of a disciplinary panel, formed of members of the governing body, in November 2015.”
The school also reassured concerned parents no pupils at the college, past or present, were involved in any of the offences, and the school’s IT facilities or networks were not used by Luff for his perverted activities.
The statement continued: “The safeguarding of students is the paramount concern of the trust and senior leadership team. We are satisfied that our robust practices have not been compromised.”
The police also highlighted how the school’s safeguarding procedures were exemplary. The school was unable to inform parents or staff members why Mr Luff had left his position until investigations had finished.
