Accountant 'Poet' Stalked Beautician

Oluwaseyi Elemide stalked Demi Witter

An accountant, infatuated with a striking beautician, did not impress her with his clumsy attempts at romantic poetry and has been sentenced for stalking.

University of Northampton-graduate Oluwaseyi Elemide, 26, wrote to Demi Witter: “Roses are red, violets are blue. We fit together like a bespoke three-piece and dapper shoes.”

He became a pest at her Lavender Hill business ‘lash+brow lab’ in Battersea, bringing a gift of tea and a card, banging on the salon windows, following her on Instagram and sending unwanted emails.

Nigerian-born Elemide, of Keevil Drive, Putney pleaded guilty at Wimbledon Magistrates Court to stalking Ms Witter, 28, involving serious alarm and distress, between July 20 and 27, last year.

“His behaviour is frightening and I am worried he will wait outside and follow me home,” said Ms Witter in her victim impact statement. “He turned up unannounced three times in a week.”

“I think he is infatuated with me and I am stressed out and anxious because of this. I have to work with the door locked and I am afraid he will confront me in the street.”

Prosecutor Corran Helme told the court the pair’s initial contact occurred when Elemide approached Ms Witter, who quit a sociology degree to start her business, in the street.

“He tried to engage her in conversation and informed her he had his own business and engaged in an arms-length business level and she told him she was not interested.

“She gave him her business card and week later received an email from the defendant, explaining he could help her business and she replied, informing him no help was needed.

“However, he did not stop and began following her on Instagram. She blocked him and he sent her an email.”

Elemide wrote: ‘How are you? Some of the content was good on Instagram. You blocked me, what did I do to deserve that?’

He then attended the victim’s busy salon and left a box of teabags and a greeting card wishing her luck.

Ms Witter told Elemide to grow up and asked how old he was, repeating he was not welcome at the salon and she would call the police if she saw him again.

Wimbledon Magistrates Court

Two minutes later he returned to the salon window, showing the victim a post-it note with his age written on it.

Elemide even tried to get an appointment at the salon, emailing Ms Witter: ‘Hi. I’d like to have a booking to try something with my brows’.

When she begged to be left alone he replied: ‘Jesus Christ. What the f****’s your problem?’

Ms Witter and her female business partner were alone in the salon at 5.45pm on July 27. “Suddenly there was a loud banging on the window and the defendant was there again,” explained Mr Helme.

“They felt afraid and hid behind one of the screens in the salon.”

Elemide’s lawyer Alex Mullen told the court: “He had a tough time during Covid and his restaurant business closed and he is now in an accounting role full-time for a television and film production company.

“He has a degree in accounting and finance from the University of Northampton and this infatuation has sadly landed him in court.”

Elemide was sentenced to a twelve-month Community Order, which includes 50 hours community service and up to 20 days of a recommended activity requirement.

The court also made him subject to an indefinite restraining order, prohibiting contact with Ms Witter or going to the salon and he must pay £85 costs and a £95 victim surcharge.

Keep Off The Booze For 100 Days

A heavy-drinking sex offender, who molested a woman in a central London square, has been ordered by a court to avoid alcohol for a period of 100 days.

Craig Clark, 35, of Harehedge Lane, Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire will be subject to alcohol monitoring equipment supervised by the Probation Service.

He pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates Court to sexually assaulting the woman in St. Martin's Square on July 11, last year.

Clark also pleaded guilty to possessing a small amount of cocaine when he was searched the same day at Walworth custody centre.

The court sentenced Clark to a nine-month Community Order, which includes an alcohol abstinence requirement.

During this period a Probation Officer will monitor Clark's alcohol consumption via monitoring equipment.

He must also complete 80 hours community service work.

Clark was ordered to pay £200 compensation to the victim; £85 costs and a £95 victim surcharge.

Sexual Assault At Hippodrome Casino

Hippodrome Casino

A casino punter has been sentenced for sexually assaulting a woman at the landmark Hippodrome in the heart of London’s West End.

Tourist Pawan Yadav, 34, of Copthorne Tara Hotel, Scarsdale Place, Kensington appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court.

He pleaded guilty to one count of sexually assaulting the woman at the casino venue on February 19.

Yadav was fined £200, with £85 costs and was ordered to pay the victim £100 compensation.

He must also pay a £34 victim surcharge and the court ordered Yadav to serve fourteen days imprisonment if he fails to pay in full.

Driving Red Card For Boozy Ex-Footballer

A once promising footballer, caught driving his Mercedes outside Buckingham Palace at over three times the drinks limit, has been banned from the roads for two years.

Zambia-born Gabriel Bwalya Kunda, 29, came through Charlton Athletic’s youth system before the midfielder's talents took him to Spain’s Atletico Madrid.

After spells with Valencia and Real Zaragoza Kunda returned to south-east London and is now living within five miles of The Valley, where his footballing journey began.

Kunda, of Finchale Road, Abbey Wood pleaded guilty to driving the silver Mercedes in the Mall on December 29, last year with 111 micrograms of alcohol in his breath.

The legal limit is 35.

At Westminster Magistrates Court he was sentenced to a two-month Community Order, which includes an electronically-monitored home curfew for the same period between 9.00pm and 5.00am.

Kunda was also disqualified from driving for two years and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £95 victim surcharge.

NOT GUILTY: Respected Sound Pro Retains Good Name

Innocent: Neil Kavanagh

An audio expert has been cleared of assaulting his partner during a row over long-running building work at their £850,000 detached home.

Yesterday sound engineer Neil Kavanagh, 70, boss of Old Barn Audio, Eridge Green, Tunbridge Wells was found not guilty after a half-day trial.

He was cleared by Bexley Magistrates of assaulting 54 year-old Heather Naqvi at the address in Leafy Grove, Keston on August 23, last year.

His partner of eleven years claimed she was deliberately thrown into a wardrobe, leaving a visible injury on her back, but Kavanagh always insisted he was trying to calm her down.

The father-of-three told the trial the couple had been victims of a “sociopath” builder. “We were out of pocket by seventy thousand pounds.”

The subject came up again one evening. “Heather went ballistic. I did not want to argue and went to bed,” Kavanagh, who has since moved into a hotel, told the trial.

“She was yelling at me, my ears were ringing, calling me an effing liar. It was loud and I was half asleep, I was stunned.

“She was saying I was f***ing useless at business, that my business was falling around my ears when in fact it has tripled in  the last couple of years.

“I was just in my Y-fronts and placed the open palms of my hands on her shoulders. It was meant to be calming, but it did not work.”

Reminiscing on their relationship Manchester-native Kavanagh added: “When it was good it was ecstatic. I thought we would be together for life.

“She thrust her leg out and it made me collapse to one side and I got stuck in the carpet.

“My knee does not twist and I was going to fall, no doubt about it and I grabbed the shoulders of the fleece Heather was wearing, my fleece.

“It was instinctive. I was hanging onto Heather for support.

“There was a tussle. It was very quick and Heather spun out one hundred and eighty degrees and landed between her side of the bed and the wardrobe.

Wardrobe: Heather Naqvi

“She did fall heavily and I was worried she hurt herself.”

Earlier fashion boutique owner Ms Naqvi confirmed the couple were now in the middle of dividing up their assets and their relationship is over.

“The argument was about him gaslighting me about something he said and he said | must have been imagining it or misheard him,” she told the court from behind a screen.

“I was annoyed, fed up and he pretended to be asleep and dismissed me. I called him a: ‘Shifty f***ing liar.’

“We were just shouting at each other and he suddenly said: ‘Right. That’s it,’ and got out of bed and threw me towards the door.

“He grabbed me and threw me and I whacked the wardrobe. He grabbed the fleece I was wearing and was pulling it.

“I was kicking out at him. I kicked at his genital area, but I didn’t want to do him any damage.”

She claimed Kavanagh ripped her mobile phone out of her hand as she tried to call a friend and she eventually called the police 101 non-emergency number twelve days later to report the incident.

“I had a big red mark on my back, a welt from where I hit the wardrobe and pain in my neck like whiplash.”

Kavanagh claims she told him a week before the row they would split up when her son reached college age in two-and-a-half years time.

She agreed the building work had caused rows between them. “Due to Neil’s actions we have lost a huge amount of money.”

There were also other arguments. “The previous row was about him washing the toilet seat in the kitchen sink.”

The three magistrates announced they could not be sure an assault had occurred and dismissed the charge against Kavanagh, who retains his good character.

The Price Of The West End: £2,735 For Pub Race Charges

The Champion pub

A visitor from the Scottish Highlands, who racially-abused two people in a central London pub, is counting the £2,735 cost of his outburst.

Alistair James Campbell, 50, of Ferry Road, Beauly, near Inverness was sentenced at City of Westminster Magistrates Court.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of racially or religiously-aggravated harassment at The Champion, Wells Street, Fitzrovia on September 13, last year.

Campbell was fined £750 on each count and ordered to pay £500 compensation to each visctim.

The court also ordered him to pay a £150 victim surcharge, plus £85 costs.

Poultry Plot: Meat Traders Charged

Anthony Fear (L) & Mark Hooper (R)

Four men, accused of plotting to sell illegal meat to the general public, appeared in court for the first time yesterday along with two associated companies.

They are: Company director Anthony Fear, 60, of The Old Ice Cream Factory, Somerset Bridge, Bridgewater.

He runs Fears Animal Products Ltd.

Appearing alongside him was Mark Hooper, 61, of The Old Ice Cream Factory, Somerset Bridge, Bridgewater.

Both are charged with conspiracy to defraud between June 12 and September 22, 2020, namely by dishonestly diverting poultry categorised as animal by-product, which was unfit for consumption, into the human food chain.

They are also charged that between the same two dates they contravened or failed to comply with EU food safety and hygiene requirements by placing onto the market poultry categorised as animal by-product that was unfair for human consumption.

Ali Afzal (L) & Azar Irshad (R)

Fears Animal Products Ltd. of The Old Ice Cream Factory, Somerset Bridge, Bridgewater, also faces the same two charges.

They appeared at Croydon Magistrates Court alongside Ali Afzal, 42, of East Street, Walworth and Azar Irshad, 36, of High Road, Ilford.

Those two men face the same two charges along with Barking Halal Meat & Fish Ltd. of High Road, Ilford.

All four men were bailed to appear along with the two companies at Inner London Crown Court on June 13.

HMO Landlord Fined For Bedsit Breaches

A landlord who rented an undersized bedsit room and blocked a potential fire escape with a piano was fined £8,000 today.

Research scientist Efstathios Theodoridis, 55, appealed the decision when blocked by the council from renting the tiny room, but continued regardless when he lost.

Southwark Council inspectors checked standards at the four-bedsit house of multiple occupation (HMO) in Langdon Way, Bermondsey on October 21, last year and also found the fire alarm system was sub-standard.

Greek-born Theodoridis, an immunobiology specialist at Guy's Hospital, Southwark says he has spent £18,000 to rectify the issues raised by the inspectors.

He currently has three occupants at the property with only one paying rent and the other two facing eviction proceedings.

Theodoridis, of South Terrace, Surbiton, Kingston-upon-Thames appeared at Croydon Magistrates Court, where he was fined £2,000 on each summons and was ordered to pay £3,198 costs.

He pleaded guilty to renting out the property to more occupants than was allowed under the licence between September 1, 2020 and October 21, last year.

Prosecutor Ryan Thompson, representing the London Borough of Southwark, told the court Theodoridis was limited to renting the property to four people from three family groups.

However, inspectors found occupants from four family groups.

Theodoridis did not have permission to rent one particular room that was 5.2m square, but it was occupied by one of his residents.

He also pleaded guilty to failing to ensure his name, address and telephone contact number were available to each resident and clearly displayed in a prominent position within the HMO.

Theodoridis further pleaded guilty to a summons of failing to properly protect the occupants due to an insufficient fire detection system; doors to the four bedsits were missing intumescent strips, cold smoke seals and self-closers and the kitchen door was missing intumescent strips and cold smoke seals. 

He also pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that all means of escape from fire in the HMO were kept free from obstruction as the entrance hall and first floor area of the common parts escape route was used for storage. 

The court heard the property had once been Theodoridis' own family home, but in recent years had been licenced by Southwark Council to be a HMO.

He produced three references from former residents, who commended Theodoridis for the condition he maintained the property in and attention and care he took regarding his tenants.

One even described him as “the best landlord I have ever had”, adding Theodoridis also mixed with his tenants socially and adhered to his responsibilities.

During the Covid crisis he was considered a key worker for his hospital research role.

District Judge Nigel McLean told Theodoridis: “You utilised the appeal procedure so knew you could not rent that room, but did so regardless.”

Train Pervert Who Targeted Young Females Is Locked-Up

A serial sex-pest, who exposed himself to females on south-east London's railway network, has been caged for sixteen months.

James Gathercole, 36, of Beckenham Road, Beckenham prowled trains and stations for almost a year and was caught when a teenage girl victim reported him to an off-duty police officer.

British Transport Police (BTP) had already launched a dedicated investigation to snare the sex offender, who once struck half a dozen times on one day.

Gathercole was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for the next ten years.

He was sentenced at Inner London Crown court for ten counts of indecent exposure between December, 2020 and November, last year.

Gathercole was detained on November 29, last year when a teenage girl in distress approached an off duty Metropolitan Police officer.

She reported that Gathercole had exposed his genitals and touched himself inappropriately in front of her on a train at New Cross station. 

BTP officers quickly arrived at the scene to arrest him and he was remanded in custody.

The court heard how on August 7, last year Gathercole committed six separate offences throughout the afternoon and evening, exposing himself to young women and teenage girls on services between New Cross Gate, Lewisham, and Sydenham stations.

BTP Detective Constable Sonja Lucas said: “It’s clear from Gathercole’s persistent and sickening actions that he is a danger to women and girls, and I’m pleased to see that after a rigorous investigation this serial offender is no longer free to travel on the railway network.

“These incidents will have had a serious impact on the victims’ lives, and no one should have to experience such vile behaviour as they travel.

“We are absolutely committed to stamping out this behaviour, and we will continue to target patrols to crime hotspots to catch and deter sexual offenders.

“I would also urge anyone who witnesses or experiences a sexual offence or sexual harassment on the railway to report it to us by texting 61016. We will always take you seriously.” 

Hunted By BTP: Train Pervert Who Played With Himself

A train passenger who pleasured himself while intimidating a lone female is being hunted by transport cops.

British Transport Police (BTP) have released this image of their suspect and are appealing to the public for their assistance in identifying him.

The victim boarded a train travelling between Lewes, East Sussex and East Croydon at 1.00pm on Monday, February 7.

A male passenger looked at her, saying: “Hey baby.”

She ignored him and moved to another part of the train.

Later in the journey she noticed the man had moved closer to her before he exposed himself inappropriately and started masturbating.

Officers believe the man in the image may have information which could help their investigation.

If you recognise him, or have any information, please contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 338 of 07/02/22.

Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

Sex Therapist Accused Of Grooming 13 Year-Old Boy Online

A London sex therapist appeared in court yesterday, accused of arranging to meet a 13 year-old boy at a tube station after grooming him on the internet.

Psychotherapist Giles Dee-Shapland, 49, allegedly engaged in sexually-explicit conversations with the teenager and was detained in a citizens sting operation, the court heard.

According to his online biography he studied at Exeter; Greenwich and Kingston Universities, is Harley Street-trained and specialises in trauma and psychosexual disorder.

Dee-Shapland, of Walham Green Court, Cedarne Road, Fulham appeared on bail for the first time at City of Westminster Magistrates Court.

He also describes himself as ‘Sexpert at SimplySxy’ and a church youth group leader.

Prosecutor Jonathan Bryan told the court there was no real 13 year-old boy, but a group of citizens had posed as the youngster on an adult website.

Dee-Shapland is charged with attempting to engage a child in sexual activity on August 8, 2020.

He is also charged with attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child between August 8, 2020 and October 3, 2020.

Dee-Shapland is further charged with attempting to meet a child after grooming at Bayswater Underground Station October 3, 2020.

He indicated not guilty pleas on all three counts and was bailed to appear on June 9 at Isleworth Crown Court.

Sentenced To...........A Day At Westminster Magistrates Court

A Honduran asylum-seeker, caught driving in the heart of the City with a bogus licence, was sentenced to spend a day in court earlier this week.

Father-of-three Erick Javier Cruz Baca, 38, was told to remain in the waiting area at Westminster Magistrates Court for approximately five hours or alternatively pay a £120 fine, plus costs.

Currently residing in Luton Airport's Holiday Inn Baca pleaded guilty to driving a silver Vauxhall Astra in Cannon Street on April 10 without a driving licence.

He also pleaded guilty to driving the vehicle without insurance.

The court heard police stopped Baca in the centre of the Square Mile financial district because one of the vehicle's headlights was not working properly.

The officers asked for his details and Baca produced a forged driving licence.

Possession of that bogus document was dealt with separately by way of an out of court disposal.

The first-time offender, who required an interpreter, said: “I fled my country and I am looking for a job as soon as possible.”

The court heard he has children aged fifteen years-old; eight years-old and eighteen months old in his native Honduras.

“My family are in danger,” he told the court.

The bench Chair told Baca: “It must be a very stressful time for you. We have sympathy for your asylum position, but you have pleaded guilty to breaking the law and you should not be driving a car.”

Baca was fined £120, with £85 costs, plus a victim surcharge or alternatively spend the rest of the day in court, which will result in nothing to be paid.

He also received six penalty points, which will be applied to any legitimate driving licence he qualifies for.

Killer Tells Jury: "I Don't Remember Picking The Knife Up"

A training tutor fighting a murder charge after plunging a kitchen knife into her boyfriend’s heart told a jury today she has no memory of stabbing him.

Charlotte Kerr, 36, admits killing 29 year-old Giovanni Wallace, but claims she was acting in self-defence during yet another row, which began with him “aggressively” kicking her out of bed.

Both trained prospective nursery and school teachers and neighbours heard them rowing again at their small one-bedroom flat in Clyde Road, Addiscombe early on Sunday, October 25, 2020.

“I have told you everything,” claimed Kerr when cross-examined by prosecutor Danny Robinson QC. “I want to be able to give his family the answers.

“I have spoken to grief counsellors, pastors and told you everything I know.”

The couple sometimes even had non-verbal rows via text messages when together in the flat and neighbours reported hearing frequent shouting matches, Croydon Crown Court was told.

Kerr described father-of-two Mr Wallace, whose children are from a  previous relationship as “controlling, jealous and possessive,” and was preventing her fleeing that flat that morning.

She claims he verbally abused her in the living-room, accusing her of cheating, and from behind placed one arm around her neck, pulled her hair and banged her head on the floor.

Kerr told the trial Mr Wallace when collected several knives from the kitchen, threw one down on the living-room floor and pointed the largest blade at his own chest.

She says Mr Wallace also placed his hands around her neck and prevented her escaping the flat, asking her: “Is it a good day to die?”

Believing she was going to be killed Kerr claims she felt a hard object in her boyfriend’s pocket, which turned out to be his phone, and armed herself.

“I don’t remember picking the knife up, but I know I did. I don’t know what was going on when the injury was inflicted,” she told the court. 

Kerr said Mr Wallace was abusive, strangled her five months previously and forced her to wear damp clothing.

She denied she was exaggerating to support her case. “I have not embellished anything. In fact I’ve held back,” Kerr told the jury.

Mr Robinson asked her: “You don’t want to tell the truth do you?” Kerr replied: “That’s all I want.”

Earlier Mr Robinson told the jury: “At 7.39am Ms Kerr spoke to a 999 operator and asked for an ambulance to come quickly to Clyde Road, Addiscombe.

“Minutes earlier she had stabbed her boyfriend Mr Wallace in the chest with a kitchen knife.

“When she made the 999 call Mr Wallace was lying on the stairs of the property and neighbours were trying to give him first aid.”

Sadly, despite the efforts of paramedics nothing could be done to save Mr Wallace and he was pronounced dead at the address at 8.26am.

“She told the police officers that attended that she had stabbed Mr Wallace.

“He suffered a stab wound to the chest that penetrated his heart, causing him to lose a large amount of blood.

“She says Mr Wallace was trying to strangle her so she stabbed him to the chest in lawful self-defence.”

Showing photographs of the scene to the jurors Mr Robinson told them: “You will see some heavy blood-staining to clothing and in the flat’s communal area.”

The couple began dating in December, 2019, with Mr Wallace quickly moving into her flat.

However, their rows were so intense neighbours called police to the property in May, 2020 when Kerr was heard shouting: “F*** off and leave.”

Shortly before his death Mr Wallace asked his father if he could move in with him to get away from Kerr. 

“They had a big row about IVF and having children  and the defendant was accusing him of having an affair,” said the prosecutor.

Police examined the couple’s mobile phones during the investigation.

“They found evidence of a number of text arguments, Sometimes they would argue by text when alone in the flat together.”

A month before the stabbing police found a 4.55am text row concerning “the rejection of Kerr by Mr Wallace sexually,” Mr Robinson told the trial.

On the morning of the stabbing they were again rowing via text.

“Mr Wallace was asking Ms Kerr to ’shut up’ because he wanted to sleep and quickly became very argumentative,” said the prosecutor.

Mr Wallace texted: “My last ex was like that. I hate you, I really f***ing do. It’s the biggest mistake I f***ing made.”

The texting escalated to verbal arguing, even waking-up the next-door neighbour. “Both Ms Kerr and Mr Wallace sounded angry.

“Shortly before the stabbing the words: ‘F*** off then,” were heard and the neighbours downstairs heard loud shouting, mainly from Ms Kerr.”

The downstairs neighbour left their flat and witnessed the bloody scene. “They saw Giovanni Wallace lying in the communal hallway and Ms Kerr told them to call an ambulance and they started CPR.

Kerr told her neighbours: “He strangled me and I stabbed him.”

Kerr has pleaded not guilty to one count of murdering Mr Wallace at the flat on October 25, 2020.

Trial continues……………. 

Heat Catch Engineer Driving Under Influence Of Cannabis

A Sandwell heating engineer has been banned from the roads after being caught driving his work vehicle under the influence of cannabis.

Jack Slater, 27, drives all over the country for his job and was stopped by police in east London.

He failed a roadside drugs swab and a blood test revealed he was at almost double the legal limit for cannabis.

Father-of-two Slater, of Oakwood Road, Smethwick appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates Court yesterday, where he was disqualified from driving for twelve months.

He pleaded guilty to driving a Vauxhall Meriva on November 23, last year in Bethnal Green Road, Tower Hamlets with 3.9 ug/L of Delta 9 Tetrahydracannibinol in his blood.

The legal limit is 2.0.

He was fined £500, with £85 costs and ordered to pay a £50 victim surcharge.

Slater also pleaded guilty to driving without insurance and driving with a tyre below the minimum tread level on the same occasion and the court imposed no further penalty.

The court heard it was 2.50pm when police officers pulled Slater over and checks revealed he had no insurance police for the vehicle.

Officers also saw one of the vehicle’s front tyres was so worn the cord beneath the tread was exposed.

Slater was asked to submit to a drugs swab, which he failed and was taken into custody.

A subsequent blood test revealed the amount of cannabis in the first-time offender’s body.

Via the duty solicitor Slater told the court the vehicle belonged to his boss, but conceded it was his responsibility to ensure he was insured and the tyres were roadworthy.

He admitted occasionally smoking cannabis and had smoked the night before, not realising he was still over the legal limit.

Slater described his arrest as a “wake up call” and had just been promoted in his £500 per week job that requires him to drive all over the country.

NOT GUILTY: Deputy Head Cleared Of Touching Girl Pupils

A school deputy headmaster was today cleared by a jury of groping the legs of five teenage girls in his office.

Matthew Childs, 33, gave evidence during the trial and repeatedly said “no” to claims he rubbed his hands and legs against four fourteen year-olds and a fifteen year-old in his private office at Purley’s Harris Academy.

At Croydon Crown Court the married father-of-two, of Ladygrove, Pixton Way, Forestdale contested claims from the girls that he would squeeze their knees and run his hands up their skirts.

He was found not guilty of seven counts of sexual activity with a child on various dates between January 1 and June 30, 2019.

The geography teacher conceded there may have been unintentional knee-to-knee contact when the girls sat close to him in his office.

While fighting for his innocence Childs told the jury: “It could have happened accidentally, yes. If I was sitting in my chair at the computer and turned around my knee might haver knocked against theirs very briefly, for half a second.”

When asked by his defence lawyer if he had ever accidentally placed his hand on  a girl’s knee the vice-principal said: “Not that I am aware of.”

Asked the same question about touching a girl’s thigh Childs emphatically replied: “No.”

On the subject of making physical contact with any children he told the court: “No absolutely not.

“It is not something we would ever do. That is clear through and through and it is not something I would ever do.

“We have clear training and updates.”

When asked if there had ever been any similar complaints during his teaching career Childs replied: “Never anywhere. No.”

He also told the trial it was a rarity to have a behind-closed-doors discussion with pupils in his office.

“The door would be open when they came in. The was open even if I was in there on my own.

“Whenever pupils came in the door always remained open. The door would have been opened all the time.”

Childs said his office door would be closed on the rare occasions a pupil wanted to talk about a sensitive subject.

He also said his open office was directly opposite the office of a female teacher and near the school Principal’s PA. 

When questioned during the early stages of the investigation Childs said the first girl had effectively “started a protest” within the school.

The second girl had skipped lessons and confided in him she had sex with a boy in a disused Waddon flat.

“I had to report what she told me. She’s got it in for me,” said Childs.

He said the third girl had “issues in life” and would visit his office “to chat and unload,” conceding it was possible there had been accidental contact when he turned in his chair.

Regarding the fourth girl Childs said his headmaster warned him there was a “possibility” of accidental touching.

Childs said the fifth girl got into shouting matches with other pupils  and “would stir it up.”

Hate Crime Investigation On The DLR

Police are investigating a hate-crime after a woman, wearing a head scarf, was racially-abused and had the covering grabbed while travelling on the Docklands Light Railway.

British Transport Police have released this CCTV image of the suspect and are requesting the assistance of the public in identifying him.

The train was approaching Poplar station in east London just after 9.00pm on Thursday, January 20 when the shocking incident occurred.

The victim was standing by the carriage doors when a man approached her and made racial slurs about her head scarf.

Shortly afterwards he grabbed her head scarf and tried to pull it off.

The man then ripped her rucksack off her back, causing one of the straps to tear.

Officers believe the man in the CCTV images may have information which could assist their investigation.

If you recognise him, or have any information, please contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 538 of 20/01/22.

Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.