Ex Kimbolton School teacher sentenced to 12 years for sex offences against school girls

A boarding school music teacher was jailed for 12 years today for grooming four teenage girls and having sex with three of them.
Court news. EMN-150910-150125001Court news. EMN-150910-150125001
Court news. EMN-150910-150125001

Paedophile Simon Ball, 42, had sex with one teenager in a school cupboard and a headmaster’s guest lavatory and abused another in her parent’s home.

A court heard how Ball lived out his perverted sexual fantasies with teenage girls at two boarding schools and ‘really enjoyed the adrenaline rush.’

He gave one student his credit card details and asked her to buy the ‘sluttiest schoolgirl’ outfit she could find, aswell as anything that ‘reeked of schoolgirl.’

The married teacher even proposed to one of his victims and convinced her to start using contraception after a pregnancy scare, Peterborough Crown Court was told.

Before sentencing yesterday, victim impact statements were read to the court where some of the ex pupils said they were “angry” at their previous schools for “turning a blind eye” to the abuse.

Ball was sentenced to seven years behind bars for abusing three schoolgirls aged between 13 and 16 during his time at private boarding school Giggleswick, in Settle, North Yorkshire between 2001 and 2004.

The Oxford university student was jailed for five years for his relationship with a 16-year-old female student at Kimbolton School where he taught after Giggleswick.

Judge Sean Enright told Ball he would “never work in schools again” and the teacher made no reaction when told he would be caged for 12 years.

Addressing Ball, Judge Enright said: “In terms of the breach of trust, which is the core stage of this case, it is three-fold.

“I have heard the summary of the victim impact statements. You have caused great harm to these girls and in some cases their families.

“These offences were all about satisfying these fantasies. There was never anything in it for the girls.”

Peterborough Crown court was told how the Kimbolton victim was a virgin before she had sex with Ball when she was 16-years-old.

Prosecutor Charles Falk said the victim would often be in pain during the sexual activity with Ball and she didn’t enjoy it.

Mr Falk added: “He would be offended if she didn’t like it and she didn’t want to offend him.”

They had sex in his flat, in a cupboard in the music department, in his office and in the headmaster’s guest lavatory.

Her victim impact statement was summarised by Mr Falk where she said she felt “failed by the institution”.

She said: “He was my teacher, he was supposed to identify that I was vulnerable. He was supposed to protect me. He completely abused that relationship.

“He spotted my vulnerabilities and exploited them. I thought that was a heartless thing to do.”

The court previously heard how Ball also had sex with one of his Giggleswick victims on his wife’s wedding dress and would “sneak” into her home at night while her parents were there.

Her victim statement said she lost all her friends due to the four-month relationship with Ball and had “tried to forget” what happened to her.

Mr Falk summarised and said: “It has affected her relationships. She has had to tell her husband about everything and she had tried to forget it, this court case has brought everything back.”

The court also heard how she felt guilt over not admitting the abuse when she was first questioned in 2004 and said “If only I had been truthful then other girls wouldn’t have been investigated”.

The court heard how Ball pleaded guilty at the earliest possible time in May this year to seven counts relating to the victim at Kimbolton.

The charges included engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust and two charges relating to making and possessing 678 indecent pictures and movies of the Kimbolton student.

The images include 137 at category A level, 47 at category B and 494 at category C.

Mr Falk added: “He was making them for his own sexual gratification, there was no suggestion they were being shown to anyone else.”

Ball then had a nine-day trial for nine other counts relating to three girls but the jury failed to reach a verdict on four and the Crown opted to not have a re-trial.

He was found guilty of one count of indecent assault where he held a female schoolgirl’s hand under a blanket and four counts of engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust with two further victims.

A sexual harm prevention order was also imposed on Ball where he isn’t allowed to have contact with females under the age of 18 without prior permission gained by local authority.

Ball, of Newent, Gloucestershire was also ordered to not have any contact with the four victims and to not posses any device which is capable of recording images.