A FORMER teacher has been given a 12-year prison sentence for 11 sexual offences against four pupils at a boarding school.

Martin Haigh was a teacher at Ashdown House School, Forest Row in the 1970s and as well as being convicted of sexual offences he was also convicted for the possession of indecent images of children.

Haigh, 67, unemployed, of Lavender Street, Brighton, was sentenced at Brighton Crown Court today after a four day trial on charges of offences against two of the boys.

He was convicted of four offences, one of indecent assault and three of gross indecency, against two boys who were then pupils aged between seven and 12, at the school in the 1970s.

At a previous hearing before the trial, Haigh had also admitted seven other offences, three of gross indecency and four of indecent assault, against two other boys at the school during the same period.

He also admitted an offence of possessing indecent images of children, found on a computer at his address when officers searched it in 2015.

The images were taken from the Internet and there is no evidence that they were children known to him.

Haigh was sentenced to a total of 11 years for the sexual offences and an additional one year for the possession of indecent images.

He will be a registered sex offender for life and has been served with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) severely restricting his access to children and computers.

The prosecution, authorised by the Crown Prosecution Service, followed an investigation by East Sussex child safeguarding detectives after allegations were referred to them for the first time in January 2014.

Police emphasise that there are no current or recent safeguarding issues at the school in relation to this case.

Detective constable Paul Deadman said: "This was a complex and protracted investigation, during which it became clear that Haigh had systematically taken advantage of the trust of young and vulnerable boys to abuse them for his own sexual gratification.”