Former North Yorkshire school teacher jailed 12 years for sex abuse of 19 pupils

A retired teacher has been jailed for sexually abusing 19 pupils over three decades.

Peter Andrew Holmes, 73, was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court on Friday, 16 September, after being found guilty of 28 offences against young victims between the 1970s and 1990s.

The former English teacher and rugby coach at the now-closed Malsis School was first accused of child sex abuse in the 1990s, but was living in Taiwan at the time and the investigation was not pursued.

But North Yorkshire Police reopened the investigation when fresh complaints were made in 2018.

Det Con Alison Morris said: "Peter Andrew Holmes is a systematic child abuser who used his position of authority as a teacher to prey on the victims who have bravely pursued justice against him.

"His reign of abuse at Malsis School spanned three decades. He caused an enormous amount of trauma for the victims which they have endured from childhood through to the present day."

She added that she hoped the victims could move on with their lives happily now that Holmes had been brought to justice.

Holmes, of King Street in Bristol, was jailed for 12 years.

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