A former head- teacher of a prep school in East Sussex has admitted groping young children in his charge.

Robin Peverett, 66, of Battle was given a 15-month suspended sentence by Judge David Griffiths after pleading guilty to nine counts of indecent assault at Maidstone Crown Court.

Peverett had been charged with 16 counts of indecent assault on nine girls and two boys, aged 10 to 13 at Dulwich College Preparatory School, Cranbrook, Kent.

After the teacher pleaded guilty to nine of the allegations, the judge ordered the other seven be left on file.

Peverett joined the school as a housemaster in the 1960s, becoming deputy headmaster in 1968 and head in 1970. He held this position until retiring in 1990.

The allegations he pleaded guilty to occurred between 1969 and 1978.

Brendan Finucane, prosecuting, told the court that the allegations all stemmed from punishments Peverett would mete out to pupils in Latin lessons, fencing practice, drama productions and a school trip to stay on narrow boats on the Norfolk Broads.

He said the accusations came to light after Peverett was interviewed by the media over the marriage of Sophie Rhys-Jones to Prince Edward last summer.

Miss Rhys-Jones, now the Countess of Wessex, was a pupil at the school while Peverett was headmaster. She left Dulwich College in 1976, but was not involved in any way in the charges against him.

Mr Finucane said the media had contacted Peverett at the time of the royal wedding to speak about Sophie Rhys-Jones.

The first of his victims to come forward, a woman now aged 33, saw the former headteacher interviewed on television and decided to come forward to the police about what had happened.

Peverett claimed he was exercising corporal punishment in all of the allegations, but admitted to police his actions were more to gratify his sense of power over the pupils than to correct their behaviour.

Mr Finucane said: "Peverett said it was for his benefit not theirs. He admitted he could have done the punishment over the children's clothes."

Peverett said it was not until questioned by the school chaplain in 1978, after complaints from parents, that he considered what he was doing.

When pupils had misbehaved or had problems with their spelling Peverett would spank and rub his hands over their bare bottoms.

A boy who was 12 at the time said he was indecently assaulted in 1973 by Peverett as the head tested him on his lines for a school production of Twelfth Night.

Geoffrey Cox, defending, told the court his client would now have to live with his glittering career being in tatters. He said Peverett was appointed chairman of the Association of Independent Schools in 1985 and sat on a committee which co-ordinated education policy. He was also a trained Ofsted inspector.

"His reputation is permanently damaged. Peverett has accepted he was arrogant and self-indulgent and should not have done these things.

"He would like to apologise to those pupils he affected."

Sentencing, Judge Griffiths, said: "The offences themselves are serious and exacerbated by the fact you were in a position of trust. Only a custodial sentence can be justified."

However, the judge said the fact the last of the offences was committed in 1978, when corporal punishment was an accepted feature of school life, was significant.

And despite media attention surrounding his arrest last year no further complainants had come forward.

Judge Griffiths said: "I find the considerable delay in the case combined with the fact that since 1980 you have applied yourself to the problem within the industry can be seen as exceptional circumstances."

Peverett will have to register as a sex offender and give police notice of any change of address. His name will stay on the register for 10 years.

Peverett, who was awarded an OBE in 1995, had denied all of the charges.