Former Lancashire private school teacher jailed for making sick images of children

Michael Ruaux, 53, who ran the independent Rivington Park School before it closed suddenly in December 2014, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children at Bolton Crown Court.

He was sentenced on April 23 to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years.

In 2014, he closed the fee-paying Rivington Park School near Chorley just days before Christmas for “personal family reasons.”

The school faced closure in 2009 and liquidators were called in during a cash shortage.

To save the school, a group of concerned parents clubbed together and invested £60,000 of their own money.

Ruaux, of Gresley Avenue, Horwich, later taught history at Millfield Science and Performing Arts College, in Thornton, near Blackpool but was suspended in July 2017 when the allegations came to light.

But parents of pupils at the school were not told about the reasons for his suspension until a letter was sent out on Tuesday - 11 months after Ruaux was suspended from duty.

Headteacher Sean Bullen said the school had been advised by Lancashire County Council not to inform parents ‘unless it was clear that the issue was becoming public knowledge’.

A County Hall spokesman confirmed the headteacher had followed the standard procedure for the situation by suspending Ruaux immediately after being contacted by police and not allowing him any further contact with the school.