Teacher cleared over assault claims

A teacher cleared of sexually assaulting six of his pupils has spoken of his "distress" at having to live apart from his wife and newborn son for eight months because of the allegations.

Peter Wilson said social services were present at his first child's birth and he was asked to swear formally that he would not live with them.

This followed charges that he had indecently touched and kissed young girls at the primary school he taught in Blackpool, Lancashire.

A jury at Preston Crown Court today took just 20 minutes to acquit him of all the charges.

Mr Wilson, 35, was suspended from his school - which cannot be named for legal reasons - after two of the youngsters told another teacher about the alleged incidents.

They said he touched their bottoms and kissed them.

The teacher denied there was any inappropriate contact and the touching was encouragement to the pupils and amounted to a clasp on the shoulder, a pat on the back or a hug.

Mr Wilson cried in the dock as he was acquitted and was supported in the public gallery by members of his family, including his wife, Clare, who teaches at the same school.

Following the verdicts, Mr Wilson said: "I am obviously absolutely delighted to have been acquitted.

"The past 18 months or so have been the most stressful of my life and my wife's.

"My greatest distress was that, as a result of these unfounded allegations, social services were present at the birth of our first child and I was required to sign an agreement to say that I could not live in the same house as my wife and newborn baby. This lasted eight months.

"Now that this horrible ordeal is finally over I look forward to rebuilding my life with my wife, new son and the rest of my family."

In opening the case the Crown said the defendant was a "well-liked and well-respected member of staff" up to the point of his suspension for his allegedly "wholly inappropriate" behaviour towards the complainants over a number of months.

The jury was told the youngsters gave similar accounts of Mr Wilson rubbing his hand down their backs or leaning close to them cheek-to-cheek before patting them on the bottom.

Jeremy Lasker, prosecuting, told members of the jury they would have to determine if the allegations were "playground gossip" with no foundation or, as the Crown said, there was a real and factual basis to the claims.

Giving evidence, Mr Wilson broke down in the witness box as he denied he gained sexual gratification and that any touching was completely innocent and part of his job.

Mr Wilson, of Bentley Green, Thornton Cleveleys, had told police that four of his accusers were lacking confidence and self-esteem in their ability in class and needed to be praised.

He said his job was a caring profession and that all the claims had been made up and were "probably malicious".

The jury today cleared him of 11 counts of indecent assault relating to five girls.

Earlier in the trial the jury was ordered by the judge to find him not guilty on three further counts in relation to another girl.

Among the bail conditions placed on Mr Wilson during the proceedings was that he was not allowed to have unsupervised contact with persons under the age of 16.

However, legal sources told the Press Association that would not usually preclude contact with his own son because his wife would be classed as the supervisor.

It is understood that social services acted independently of the bail conditions and took separate court action to demand that he sign the agreement to live apart from his wife and son.

A spokeswoman for Lancashire County Council's social services department said: "We cannot comment on individual cases."

Meanwhile, Mr Wilson remains suspended from his post at the school.

A spokesman for Blackpool Council said: "We can confirm that the member of staff remains suspended ahead of an internal investigation following the conclusion of the court case."

PA