Deputy headmaster jailed for five years after installing secret cameras into toilets and showers during sports day to film more than 30 pupils

Deputy headmaster jailed for five years after installing secret cameras into toilets and showers during sports day to film more than 30 pupils
Teacher bought spy cameras over the internet and installed them in the toilet
Cardiff Crown Court heard that Gareth Williams downloaded the images at home
The 47-year-old deputy headmaster admitted possessing 16,000 indecent images
The 'depraved' images dated back to 2009 - a year after Williams was appointed
Williams told police he had been viewing child pornography for ten years
Judge Rhys Rowlands described the case as a 'dreadful and protracted breach of trust'

A deputy headmaster was yesterday jailed for five years for secretly filming pupils using the school toilets and showers.

Gareth Williams, 47, installed tiny hidden spy cameras in clocks, fans and toilet cisterns in order to obtain pictures and videos of boys without their knowledge.

The married father of four even put a camera in the changing rooms on school sports day in order to catch as many children as possible.

A court heard how Williams also installed cameras in two private homes, as well as the large mixed school where he worked, for his sexual gratification.

He was investigated by police after computer specialists found he had been buying illegal images of children on the internet.

Officers who searched his home found two laptops and 11 memory sticks along with the pinhole camera gear and software he had installed with the aim of browsing the internet undetected.

Williams, from Cardiff, was deputy head of Glantaf Welsh-language high school in the city, where former pupils include Hornblower actor Ioan Gruffudd and former Blue Peter presenter Gethin Jones.

The court heard a total of 31 boys at the 1,300-strong school aged between 11 and 16 were caught on Williams’s cameras.

Cardiff Crown Court heard he had 16,419 indecent images of children and 691 videos.

The court heard some of the images dated back to 2009 – a year after he was appointed deputy head at the school.
The court heard that Williams had 16,419 indecent images of children and 691 videos at his home in Cardiff
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The court heard that Williams had 16,419 indecent images of children and 691 videos at his home in Cardiff

Prosecutor Michael Jones said of the images relating to the voyeurism charges: ‘All these images were of children exposed as they were using the lavatory or the showers.

‘They had also been uploaded to a computer and catalogued by their age at the time the children were filmed. Officers discovered images of young males and the school’s badge could be seen.

‘They had been filmed in the changing facilities in the school sports hall.’

Williams, who concealed one camera as a meter on the water cistern, even filmed himself on some of the videos as he secretly installed his devices.

Mr Jones explained: ‘On one of the videos he is seen crossing his fingers as he put it up. It showed he is hoping the camera is capturing the best possible images.’

Mr Jones continued: ‘This was a serious systematic abuse of trust. A devious and determined invasion of privacy of the children. The effect on children, staff and parents was one of complete and utter disbelief.’

Williams pleaded guilty to 31 charges of voyeurism and the making and possession of more than 16,000 indecent images of children. The voyeurism charge states Williams recorded other persons for the purpose of sexual gratification.

Williams had also been coach of an under-15 rugby team and helped out with a scout group, while his duties at the school where he worked included ‘pastoral care’.

In police interviews Williams said he had been looking at child images for ten years ‘to understand physical development’.

He also admitted an ‘enduring interest in boys’ development’ but couldn’t explain why. He admitted it had become an obsession.

After he was sentenced, his wife Georgina said in a statement: ‘I feel physically sick at what he has done to me and my family. I was shell-shocked and my whole world came crashing down.’

Judge Rhys Rowlands told Williams: ‘This is a dreadful and protracted breach of trust on your behalf.

‘As a result of your depraved behaviour you have lost your career, livelihood and reputation. But this is nothing compared to the worry and real horror which is felt by parents who have trusted their children to you.’

The judge also ordered Williams to sign the sex offenders’ register, banning him from working with children.

He said: ‘I cannot conceive that you will ever be able to return to your previous occupation.’

The governors at the school said they had been ‘dismayed’ by the revelations.

In a joint statement with Cardiff Council they said: ‘The sense of betrayal and disappointment among the pupils, staff and wider school community is profound. This has been a very distressing episode for all concerned.’

Catrin Davies, from the Crown Prosecution Service Wales, said: ‘The offences committed by Gareth Williams constituted a gross breach of the trust placed in him by those close to him, his community, his pupils and his employers.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2632984/Deputy-headmaster-jailed-five-years-installing-secret-cameras-toilets-showers-sports-day-film-30-pupils.html#ixzz32FFa8xvS


A deputy headmaster. You just never know who you can trust.

"...Gareth Williams, 47, installed tiny hidden spy cameras in clocks, fans and toilet cisterns in order to obtain pictures and videos of boys without their knowledge..."

I bet he votes Labour.

I bet he votes Labour.

It's sad and horrifying.

Phillipa wrote:
I bet he votes Labour.

  

Brainless drunken idiot...
Crawl back under your rock, you insipid little moron..   ::drnkpst::