Music teacher baronet jailed after ten-year-old pupil he abused breaks 30-year silence
A titled music teacher has been jailed for sexually abusing a ten-year-old boy 30 years ago – after the former pupil broke a lifetime’s silence.
Sir Peter Newson-Smith was found guilty of two charges of indecent assault while head of music at a prestigious boarding school, Clayesmore Prep, in Dorset.
He received a five-and-a-half-year sentence after victim John Cartwright flew from his home in Australia to give evidence against him.
Caged: John Cartwright, left, former pupil of Peter Newson Smith, right, gave evidence of sexual abuse that saw the latter jailed for five-and-a-half years
A court heard how Newson-Smith, the 3rd Baronet of Totteridge, lured the ‘vulnerable and isolated’ pupil into a cupboard on ten separate occasions, before making him strip naked and molesting him.
Newson-Smith – who was described by his neighbours as a ‘pillar of the community’ – had also denied taking photos of the naked ten-year-old on a polaroid camera in 1981. The 66-year-old retired from the £7,500-a-term school in 2003 after 24 years.
Victim Mr Cartwright, now 40, chose to waive his anonymity to speak to The Mail on Sunday in the hope that other victims of abuse will come forward.
The property developer said: ‘I just feel relief now that he has been jailed. I still don’t know whether I have fully come to terms with what happened to me but at least, for the first time, I have justice.’
Mr Cartwright, who has a eight- year-old daughter, said he decided to make his complaint in 2010 after he ‘thought about how I would react if the same thing were to happen to her’.
‘I never told anyone because it is extremely humiliating and embarrassing. I felt ashamed. It took 30 years for me to be able to say it. It’s not something that’s easy to mention.
‘It always stopped me from trying to do really well at anything because after those experiences, I never wanted to stand out, and that takes a long time to overcome.
‘At the time, I didn’t understand what was happening to me. Even now, I haven’t told my wife everything. But, when I saw how many pastoral awards the school had won, it made me angry, so I emailed the headmaster and told him what I’d gone through.’
Mr Cartwright also revealed how testifying in court was ‘without question the scariest thing I’ve ever done’.
He added: ‘I don’t think there is anything more harrowing than having to stand up and talk openly about those kinds of experiences.’
Mr Cartwright’s sister Susan Callaway, 40, said: ‘I was also at that school and I understand how this could happen. You didn’t have anybody you could turn to. It is horrific.
‘He had his innocence taken away from him and that’s just not right.’
Sentencing Newson-Smith at Dorchester Crown Court, Judge Roger Jarvis said: ‘There is scarcely a greater breach of trust, when a young boy is entrusted to the care of a boarding school, and that very considerable trust is abused.’
As the guilty verdict was read out, Newson-Smith’s wife Mary-Ann, with whom he has four children, broke down in tears. ‘It can’t be true,’ she said. ‘What will I tell the children?’
Neighbours in Marnhull, Dorset, also expressed their shock. Margaret Bulford, 87, a family friend, said: ‘It is absolutely unbelievable. I’ve always known him as a good man and an upstanding member of our village. I would describe him as a good and quiet gentleman.’
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...sed-breaks-30-year-silence.html#ixzz2UbbZhJOJ
:doh: