Paedo Ex-Teacher Slashes Wrists Hours Before Court Sentencing

A pedophile ex-schoolteacher, convicted of abusing two boy pupils he transfixed with elaborate ghost stories, slashed his wrists hours before he was due to be sentenced for the decades-old offences.

Martin Smith, 64, of Llandybie Road, Ammanford, Carmarthenshire was rushed from a hotel in Horsham, West Sussex, to an unnamed local hospital yesterday with self-inflicted injuries.

He was due to be sentenced at Woolwich Crown Court for one count of indecent assault in relation to each boy, plus two counts of repeated indecency with each child on multiple occasions between 1979 and 1982.

He was convicted by a jury who heard the former Camberwell primary school teacher abused the young boys, aged between eight and ten, during sleepovers at his former home in St. Julian's Farm Road, West Norwood on the eve of organised trips.

He was arrested and charged after internet communication between the complainants on Facebook and Friends Reunited.

Smith employed the ghost stories to instigate some of the abuse, urging one of the youngsters to "punish the ghost" by touching him intimately.

The boys were "absorbed" by his imaginative ghost tales, which usually involved World War One soldiers.

They stayed at Smith's two-bedroom flat to get an early start on various school trips and one of the victim's thought he felt the presence of a ghost during a visit to an old music hall, such was the influence of the defendant's stories.

The same victim told police he was also caned and spanked by Smith and one one occasion confirmed bachelor Smith put him in a nappy.

The truth only started coming out when the victim confided in his wife that a schoolteacher had abused him.

Judge David Tomlinson issued a warrant for Smith's arrest, announcing: "He was supposed to surrender today for sentencing and he's not here.

"He lives in Wales and to be nearer the court he went to a hotel in Horsham and was taken to hospital earlier today and his condition is not life-threatening, but there is an element of self-harm.

"A police officer has arrested him for failing to attend today and I am told that he has been assessed by the accident and emergency department."

Prosecutor Mr. Tom Nicholson applied for the warrant, saying: "There's concern for his own safety. He cannot be expected to return to Wales under his own steam and then return to court."