A former teacher who admitted nine counts of indecent assault against three pupils has today been sentenced to two years imprisonment.
George Carroll, 85, of Queens Road, Bournemouth, admitted the charges when he appeared at Furness and District Magistrates’ Court on 6 March 2019 and was sentenced today (18th April, 2019) at Preston Crown Court.
The offences took place in the 1960s and 1970s when Carroll was a teacher at Cartmel School and Sedburgh County Secondary School (formerly known as Settlebeck School).
The investigation was launched as part of Cumbria Constabulary’s Operation Tweed – the investigation into non-recent abuse at residential schools in south Cumbria.
The court heard how three victims were identified and reported they had been the victims of indecent assaults by Carroll.
The first victim had been a pupil at Cartmel school in the early 1960s. He reported that Carroll was a PE teacher at the school.
On one occasion Carroll had invited the victim into the shower block and indecently assaulted him.
On another occasion Carroll approached the victim whilst he was playing football and told him to go to the store room. Carroll followed the boy before indecently assaulting him.
On a third occasion, the victim was on a camping trip to Eskdale and reported how Carroll would walk around naked. The boy was told to go into Carroll’s tent where he was indecently assaulted.
A second victim was a pupil at Settlebeck School in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He described how Carroll had touched and grabbed him on various occasions when he was aged around 14 or 15. On several occasions the boy was asked to blow up footballs in the store room before being indecently assaulted by Carroll.
A third victim was a pupil at the same school at around the same time and reported similar offences of being indecently assaulted whilst blowing up footballs in the store room and being grabbed by Carroll in the showers.
In his police interview, Carroll said he could not fully recollect the incidents but did accept that he behaved in a sexually inappropriate manner with male pupils during his time as a teacher.
When specific incidents were put to Carroll he recalled touching the penis of one of the Cartmel School victim and accepted an allegation of touching one of the boys at Sedbergh at the swimming pool.
In response to one allegation, Carroll said: “I can’t see these youngsters making it up and I have these tendencies, so yeah.”
When asked about grabbing and groping boys whilst they were blowing up footballs, Carrol replied: “That would happen, yeah.”
Senior Investigating Officer Doug Marshall said: “Every survivor of child abuse deserves to have their case investigated.
“The victims in this case have had to live with what they were subjected to by Carroll for decades. However, I hope that seeing their former PE teacher admit what he did and be brought to justice for his offences, all these years later, has brought them some comfort.
“I can assure the public that Cumbria Constabulary takes all reports of abuse – no matter how long ago they took place – extremely seriously and that all victims who come forward are treated with dignity and respect.”
