Admin l Monday, February 6, 2017
SOUTHWARK, London – Patrick Vernon Marshall, 70 a former teacher has been jailed for the non-recent sexual abuse of 10 boys in what was described by the judge as a ‘shocking period of offending’.
Marshall of Frensham Lane, Farnham, according to the Metropolitan Police was convicted on Monday 6 February by a jury of 24 counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual activity with a child after a four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court. He was sentenced on the same day to 18 years’ imprisonment.
Marshall was arrested and charged as part of Metropolitan Police’s (Met) investigation into non-recent sexual offences committed by former teachers at St Paul’s School, and its preparatory school Colet Court, in Barnes.
The Met launched Operation Winthorpe in February 2014 after a number of allegations were made of child sexual abuse in the Barnes area from the 1960s to the 1990s. Marshall, who worked at St Paul’s from 1971 to 1981, is the third former teacher at the school to be convicted of indecently assaulting boys aged under 16.
A number of the boys targeted by Marshall were members of a school rowing club, of which he was a coach. The boys he abused were aged between 11 and 15 years-old at the time of the offences, were vulnerable through youth, family circumstances or teenage confidence anxieties.
Marshall gained the trust of their respective families to manipulate circumstances in which he could carry out his abuse. In one case, Marshall abused a boy who was grieving the loss of his father.
Two of the indecent assault charges were committed by Marshall while he was working at Windsor Grammar School from 1968 until 1971.
Detective Superintendent Ang Scott, who the led the investigation, said:
“Patrick Marshall abused his position of trust as a teacher to take advantage of 10 boys whom he targeted over more than a decade.
“Marshall manipulated his way into the trust of the boys’ families and used threats to ensure they stayed silent about the abuse. I would like to praise the bravery of the people abused by Marshall who, despite the passage of time, had the confidence to come forward and report the abuse to police and give evidence in court.
“Our specially trained officers have supported the people involved in this case throughout the court process and I hope the guilty verdicts give them some form of closure.”
Following Marshall’s conviction, reporting restrictions have now been lifted in the cases of David Sansom-Mallett [D] and Michael Ellis [F], both former teachers at St Paul’s who were also found guilty of indecently assaulting boys aged under 16.
