Paedophile ex-deputy head at Prince George and Princess Charlotte’s school jailed for 12 years

The ex-deputy headteacher at Prince George’s primary school has been jailed for 12 years for child sex abuse as staff said they were “shocked and appalled beyond measure”.

Matthew Smith, 35, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday after admitting to paying £65,000 for two teenagers in India to abuse younger children.

Staff at the Thomas’s Preparatory School, in Battersea, south-west London, condemned his actions as "deplorable" in a statement.

George and Charlotte attended Thomas’s Battersea until their move to Lambrook School in Windsor in September last year.

None of the offences Smith was investigated for were related to the school or its students, the National Crime Agency (NCA) confirmed.

Smith, from East Dulwich in south-east London, was arrested by the National Crime Agency in November 2022, after investigators discovered he was sharing abusive material on the dark web.

For the majority of his crimes, “prolific offender” Smith was living in Nepal, working at a school, and also spent various periods working in orphanages and non-governmental organisations across India between 2007 and 2014.

He moved back to the UK in July 2022 and began working at Thomas’s Battersea in September, where he was a deputy head and head of pastoral care for eight weeks until the school learned of the allegations and fired him.

Smith was online asking for sexual images of a child at the time of his arrest, the NCA said.

Smith was jailed after he pleaded guilty to 22 counts, including encouraging the rape of a child under 13, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, and arranging the sexual abuse of a child.

A spokesperson for Thomas’s Preparatory School said: “We have been shocked and appalled beyond measure by this matter and are grateful for the work of the police and courts in bringing this man to account.

“Mr Smith’s employment at the school, which commenced in September 2022, was terminated with immediate effect when the school first learned of the charges against him in November.

“While the National Crime Agency has confirmed that none of the matters under investigation related to the school or its pupils, these deplorable actions constitute an unforgivable breach of trust and our thoughts are with those who have been impacted or damaged by them.

“As always, we remain absolutely committed to the ongoing safety and wellbeing of our pupils and our whole school community.”