The former headteacher of an Oxfordshire primary school has been jailed for four years and four months today for sexually assaulting two schoolgirls.
Christopher Field, of Green Lane in Chieveley, was sentenced by Judge Zoe Smith at Oxford Crown Court after being found guilty by a jury last Thursday.
He assaulted two girls under 13 while he was a headteacher and they were pupils at Woodcote Primary School near Wallingford between September 2010 and November 2011.
Field, 47, was handed a three-year jail term for sexually assaulting a girl under 13 by touching, a one-year jail term for another count of the same offence, and four months for making indecent images of a child. The sentences are to run consecutively.
He pleaded not guilty but was convicted by a jury of eight men and four women after a 13-day trial at the same court.
Detective Constable Sarah Berry, from Oxford’s child abuse investigation unit, said: “This was a difficult case involving a headteacher using his position of trust and authority to groom and abuse two young girls who did not properly understand what was happening at the time.
“They have shown great courage in coming forward. Both have been consistent and shown great determination in giving their evidence at court.
“I am so sad for them that Field did not admit his guilt and thereby could have spared them the pain of reliving the ordeal in court.”
Field was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.
Judge Smith also ordered that two further counts, one of sexual assault and one of causing a girl a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity, are to lie on file – after the jury failed to reach verdicts.
He was arrested in September 2014 and charged with the offences last May.
A friend of one of the victims told the jury the girl had confided in her over a year after leaving the school and that she had been left ‘borderline suicidal’ as a result of the abuse.
She told the court during the trial: “She mentioned him taking her to his office during lunch and break times.
“She just mentioned it was inappropriate but she did not think it was wrong. She was being told to do things. He called her special.”
Another friend of the same victim told the jury the girl had contacted her via Facebook, saying: “He was doing terrible things to me.”
“I never said anything because it was difficult and I did not think anyone would believe me and it took a long time before I understand that it was wrong.”
