A former vice-principal at a leading Northern Ireland grammar school has walked from court after he admitted indecently assaulting three female pupils.
Francis Noel Stroud (68) was sentenced to three years on probation after he pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting the teenager students while working as a maths teacher at Hunterhouse College in Finaghy on the southern outskirts of Belfast.
Stroud, of Sandymount Mews, Dunmurry, Belfast, was told by Belfast Recorder Judge David McFarland that he had committed a “serious breach of trust” by indecently touching the girls and kissing one on the lips.
Belfast Crown Court heard that the offences came to light when Stroud was being interviewed by police in February 2011 for harassing a pupil he was privately tutoring privately by touching her leg and sending her “inappropriate text” messages.
He was convicted of harassing his 16-year-old victim in March 2014 at Craigavon Crown Court and handed down a two-year probation order.
A prosecution lawyer told the judge that during the course of police interviews Stroud told detectives he would not harass the girl “because of what happened to me at Hunterhouse” in 1997.
“That sparked police to make inquiries with the school and these three ladies which has now lead to these charges,” the barrister told the court.
Police inquiries revealed that between 1996 and 1997, three third form pupils, all aged 14, had reported to a teacher at the school that Stroud, who at the time was vice principal, had indecently touched them.
The girls said he had put his hand on their legs and in one instance he placed his hand on the leg of one of the students and “moved his hand up her inner thigh”.
On a further occasion, one of the pupils reported that he had “kissed her full on the lips”.
The court was told that the girls’ parents were informed and during meetings at the school it was decided not to involve the police so as to “protect the children and protect them from a criminal court case” and to deal with the matter internally instead.
“At the end of the school term, the accused was subject to disciplinary procedures and he was sacked for gross misconduct.”
The court heard that Stroud took an unfair dismissmal case to the industrial tribunals but lost his action.
The prosecutor added that it was clear from the victim impact statements provided by the pupils that Stroud’s activities had had a “significant impact on them”.
A defence barrister said it was “very sad” that for a man such as Stroud, who he said had been described as an “inspirational and illuminating maths teacher of 30 years”, should find himself before the courts for his “wholly inappropriate conduct”
He added that following his dismissal from college, Stroud and his wife separated and later divorced . He was also admitted as inpatient to hospital for treatment for mental health problems.
“He does display victim awareness and remorse. Mr Stroud is fully aware of the distress and harm he has caused.”
The judge told Stroud: “This was a clear breach of trust in your role as a teacher and also in the relationship between a teacher and a pupil.”
The judge also said a probation report stated that Stroud was not assessed as posing a significant risk of serious harm to the public and was deemed a medium risk of reoffending.
Stroud was placed on the sex offenders register for five years and was he also made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order for five years.