Teacher jailed for abusing pupils

Bruce Roth, 46, a teacher at a top private school, has been convicted of sexually abusing young boys
25 July 2012

A teacher at one of the country's most prestigious public schools has been jailed for 11 years after he was found guilty of sexually abusing five young boys.

Bruce Roth, who taught maths at £30,000-a-year Wellington College, groomed and performed sex acts on three boys at the boarding school and two at King's School in Rochester, Kent, where he taught previously.

Roth strenuously denied the 17 charges against him, accusing his victims of conspiring against him because they did not like him as a teacher. He remained impassive in the dock, apart from occasionally shaking his head, as the jury at Reading Crown Court returned guilty verdicts on all counts.

The trial heard that two complaints were made against Roth over claims that he sexually touched one boy and repeatedly abused another, both aged between eight and 10, while an assistant housemaster at King's School between 1987 and 1994.

After an internal investigation cleared him of wrongdoing, he left the school and went to Wellington, where he taught until his arrest in 2010. The Wellington victims were teenagers, some from vulnerable backgrounds. In each case there was a clear progression from grooming through to sexual touching and performing sex acts on the boys.

Judge Simon Davis described Roth as a "plausible, intelligent man", who was capable of being highly manipulative.

His behaviour at the college in Crowthorne might have been shaped by his being exonerated of wrongdoing at the previous school in Kent, the judge said.

"You have impressed some schoolboys, some parents, some teachers in high and influential positions, who are all convinced you are a good, kind and pastoral teacher, a professional man," he said.

Judge Davis attacked Roth for what he said were attempts to character-assassinate his victims in what he said was a "sad and dreadful case".

"In the face of clear evidence from all five complainants, you maintained first to the police and then to this court that each and every one of the allegations of which you have been convicted were fabricated," he said. "You were not able to deceive this jury."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in