Disgraced teacher jailed for child sex offences

A former teacher has been jailed after admitting inciting under age girls to perform sex acts on an internet chat room.
Kingsley Chesworth has been jailed for three yearsKingsley Chesworth has been jailed for three years
Kingsley Chesworth has been jailed for three years

Kingsley Chesworth, 36, wept in the dock at Burnley Crown Court when he was jailed by Judge Jonathan Gibson for three years.

Chesworth, who previously taught at Fulwood Academy and Lostock Hall High School, had earlier pleaded guilty to 11 charges at Preston Crown Court in September.

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Emma Kehoe, prosecuting, told the court at the sentencing hearing that Chesworth had initially been caught by an undercover police officer posing as a 12-year-old girl on an internet chat room.

During the exchange, he said he liked to take risks including sky diving and posing nude for live drawings. He then entered into a graphic conversation with the “girl” and performed a sex act on himself.

The following day he was arrested but his mental health quickly deteriorated and he was hospitalised in a psychiatric unit for a month. His computer was analysed by police and it was found he had been engaging in similarly graphic conversations with a number of other, real, underage girls.

He had recorded videos of one of the girls intimately touching herself.

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Beverly Hackett, defending, told the court her client had no previous convictions and had lost his wife and job since the allegations came to light.

She added: “There were signs of very clear difficulties in terns of fitting in and feeling lonely ever since childhood.

“My client suffers from depression and is on medication. He is genuinely remorseful at what he has done. He is a man of previous good character, and his parents, who are very respectable, have promised to support him.

“He has funded psychotherapy and other treatments himself and has taken every step possible to demonstrate his willingness to change.”

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Jailing Chesworth, of Kensington Avenue, Penwortham, Judge Gibson said that an aggravating factor was that the defendant had created his own indecent videos of children.

He said: “These offences arise out of your use of the internet to target young girls for your sexual gratification.”

However, Judge Gibson said there was clear evidence that Chesworth was remorseful.

Chesworth was previously banned from the classroom for two years after being found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct when he carried out a sex act in view of a teenager in a seperate case.