Former teacher guilty of abusing boys for over a decade

A former teacher has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for sexually abusing boys and teenagers for more than a decade.

Patrick Marshall, who once taught at the £35,000-per-year St Paul's School, was convicted of 24 counts of indecent assault against nine boys and teenagers, and one count of indecency with a child at Southwark Crown Court on Monday.

A number of the boys targeted by Marshall were members of a school rowing club which he coached.

The boys he abused were aged between 11 and 15 years-old at the time of the offences, and were vulnerable through youth, family circumstances or teenage confidence anxieties.

Two of the indecent assault charges were committed by Marshall while he was working at Windsor Grammar School from 1968 until 1971.

Marshall is the third person to be convicted of historic sexual abuse at St Paul’s School after several allegations were made by former pupils and police launched 'Operation Whithorpe' to investigate the claims.

Former teacher Michael Ellis, 71, was jailed for eight years after being found guilty in July 2016 of two counts of indecent assault against two boys, and admitted four counts of possessing indecent images of children.

David Sansom, 72, was sentenced to a total of 14 years and nine months’ imprisonment after being found guilty in November last year of abusing four children, one of whom was a pupil at St Paul’s School.