Teacher at Prince George’s former prep school jailed for child sex abuse
A former teacher at the prep school once attended by Prince George and Princess Charlotte, who paid £65,000 for sexual photos of children as young as seven, has been jailed for 12 years.
Matthew Smith was described as a “master manipulator” for soliciting the images while working at a British school in Nepal.
The “sinister” 35-year-old recruited teenagers in India to groom children and offered to pay their school fees in exchange for sexual images.
He was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court, having previously admitted 17 counts of child sex abuse levelled against him.
Smith was appointed deputy head of pastoral care at Thomas’s prep school in Battersea in September last year following five years teaching in Nepal. But in November, he was arrested by the National Crime Agency after investigators discovered he was sharing abuse material on the dark web.
At the time of his arrest, Smith was online, speaking to a teenager in India, encouraging him to send sexual images of a younger child for money.
Investigators later established that Smith had paid the same teenager and another Indian boy, a total of £65,398 to abuse children over a five-year period.
Chat logs showed how he would instruct the men to perform sex acts on boys and then send videos and images in return for payment. He also gave one of them advice on how to befriend children and build their trust with a view to abusing them.
Smith had spent a number of years working in schools, orphanages and NGOs across Nepal and India.
Investigators recovered 120,000 indecent images of children from Smith’s devices as well as evidence he had abused children himself while working in India.
Following his arrest, Smith pleaded guilty to the initial offences but last month was charged with a further 17 counts including the rape of a child 13, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and arranging the sexual abuse of a child.
‘Master manipulator’
Mr Justice Griffith said at the sentencing on Wednesday: “You had gone to Chennai in India at the age of 24. You were there for three years then moved to Nepal where you worked at a school until July 2022.
“[A psychologists’ report] relates your reason for going to the subcontinent as being your love of the time in Chennai, adventure and holidaying opportunities in the Himalayas.
“I am afraid your computer shows a much more sinister reason.”
Helen Dore, Senior Officer of the National Crime Agency (NCA), said: “Matthew Smith is a prolific offender and master manipulator, who coerced young men into abusing children on his behalf.
“He constantly sought out opportunities to gain access to children but was adept at hiding his sexual interest in them. He conducted his offending while working as a teacher and head of pastoral care – a deep betrayal of the trust placed in him.
“It’s clear Smith has absolutely no empathy for his victims and the harm he has caused them. He presents a very real and significant risk to children, but this investigation has ensured he will spend a long time in prison.”
‘Unforgivable breach of trust’
None of the charges related to his time at the £20,000-a-year Thomas’s prep school, which was attended by Prince George and Princess Charlotte until the end of the last academic year.
A spokesman for Thomas’s Battersea 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 well-being of our pupils and our whole school community.”
