Primary school headteacher spared jail after sexually assaulting a woman in his office

A judge compared a headteacher to "moguls in business and entertainment" as he sentenced him for sexually assaulting a woman in his office.

Judge Thomas Crowther told Kevin Thomas, 47, that society had changed and "the ratchet cannot be reset" as he handed him a community order for the offence.

Newport Crown Court heard Thomas bombarded the woman, who cannot be identified, with increasingly sexual messages and groped her between the legs on one occasion.

The headteacher at in Glan-yr-Afon Primary school in Llanrumney, Cardiff was convicted of one charge of sexual assault following a trial at Newport Crown Court earlier this month.

Judge Crowther sentenced married Thomas to a two-year community order, with a requirement to carry out rehabilitation and 200 hours of unpaid work.

Thomas, of Fairwater, Cardiff, was registered as a sex offender and ordered to pay £2,500 of prosecution costs.

The judge told Thomas he had "plainly wanted an affair" with the woman, who was not interested.

"You were, in your world, a powerful man," Judge Crowther told the defendant.

"You knew it and you were prepared to exercise that power. If the world was ever like that, it is not now.

"In the last 12 months or so, society has changed. The ratchet cannot be reset.

"The principle applies to everyone, not just moguls in business and entertainment."

In a statement read to the court, the woman described how Thomas had left her with stress and anxiety.

"Mr Thomas's behaviour had a major impact on how I felt on a daily basis," she said.

"I felt nobody would believe me or listen to me as he was the headteacher."

The woman said the assault made her feel intimidated and frightened.

Byron Broadstock, representing Thomas, said his client's wife was standing by him.

"Stress doesn't excuse anything but perhaps it begins to explain why he behaved in the way that he did," Mr Broadstock said.

"It was a challenging school, a failing school, when all the responsibility sits on the shoulders of the headteacher.

"He will never teach again."

The judge also granted a restraining order to prevent Thomas from contacting the woman.