A RETIRED West Devon school teacher who sexually abused boys at a school in Wiltshire was caught with the help of the Friends Reunited website, a court was this week told.
Peter Hamilton-Leggett, 58, of Old Station Lane, Yelverton, was jailed for eight years at Swindon Crown Court after admitting 54 sex offences against boys as young as eight.
The court heard Mr Hamilton-Leggett had twice before been the focus of police investigations into alleged sex abuse. But it was not until one man came forward in 2002 that a catalogue of horrific offences, carried out at two public schools in Wiltshire and Berkshire in the 1970s and 1980s, was uncovered.
The court heard one of the schools ? Old Ride Preparatory School in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire ? had since closed, but detectives used the Friends Reunited website to contact former pupils.
As a result, 19 former pupils pressed charges against their old science teacher.
The court heard the offences had been carried out in rooms, corridors and dormitories at the school ? even when other teachers were near.
The court heard that many victims were left with a legacy of personal problems, including failed relationships, drinking problems and attempted suicide.
Mr Hamilton-Leggett told the court he only realised such abuse was wrong when he saw programmes about children made by Esther Rantzen and stopped.
He took up a position at Mount House School in 1985 where he taught without incident until he retired at the age of 57 ? the year he got married.
Judge Longbottom said Mr Hamilton-Leggett had shown ?a complete abuse of trust? and condemned his manipulation and grooming of children, telling the court he had not admitted the most serious allegations until the last minute and that he had lied during a psychological assessment.
The defence said Mr Hamilton-Leggett had shown real remorse and produced more than 30 testimonial letters, including evidence from a part-time Dartmoor Prison rector, the Rev John Weir.
Judge Longbottom sentenced Mr Hamilton-Leggett to eight years? imprisonment for serious sexual offences, four years for serious sexual assault and gross indecency and two for indecent assault, to run concurrently.
And he praised Det Sgt David Martin, of Wiltshire Police, for his ?professional and persistent? work on the case, during which he had contacted some 200 former pupils of the teacher.
After the case, Det Sgt Martin said the sentence was a heavy one, which he hoped would give the victims a sense that justice had been served.