A FORMER public school caretaker has been jailed for the ‘systematic’ historic abuse of four vulnerable and homesick boys whom he groomed with pornography and cigarettes.

Anthony Bennett was a maintenance man at Shebbear School in the late 1970s and early 1980s when he lived in a shed and a caravan in the grounds.

He offered refuge to boys who were homesick but then abused their trust by allowing them to smoke in his caravan and then showing them pornography and engaging in mutual masturbation.

Bennett went further with three of the boys, taking part in oral sex and plied one 12-year-old with cider before subjecting him to an assault which would now be called male rape. He also assaulted boys in a sports hall and his car and warned them they would be expelled if they told anyone what he was doing.

The victim of the most serious abuse left the school after running away from home at half term because he could not face going back and all the boys suffered lasting psychological harm.

Bennett, aged 65, of Truro, denied but was convicted of one count of buggery and seven of indecency against three boys. He admitted a further 13 offences of indecency, including three against a fourth boy.

He was jailed for 19 years by Judge Erik Salomonsen at Exeter Crown Court and ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register for life. He was also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order  which restricts his contact with children on his release.

The judge told him: ‘This was systematic abuse of pupils at a boarding school in a rural part of Devon.

‘The account given by witnesses was of a harsh regime where senior boys bullied younger boys, who were away from home for the first time and very vulnerable.

‘You befriended them and groomed them over a period of time.

‘You invited them into your hut or caravan to smoke, drink coffee and listen to music. You looked at pornographic magazines and that led to masturbation.

‘These were heinous crimes against vulnerable victims who were entitled to rely on every employee of the school to protect them. You were a janitor in a position of trust in relation to all pupils.

‘The psychological damage you did was apparent to the jury and is set out in their impact statements. Their later lives were overshadowed by your behaviour. It has diminished their lives. Each victim was particularly vulnerable.’ 

During a week-long trial the jury heard that Bennett worked at the school for six years during which he lived in a corrugated iron shed and a 28-foot long residential caravan.

He befriended young boys who were away from home for the first time and offered them somewhere where they could smoke without risk of being caught.

He showed some of the boys pornography and encouraged them to masturbate with him. He denied any penetrative sex but was found guilty by the jury. 

He described his actions as being a period of madness in his life which he has regretted ever since.

Mr Greg Richardson, defending, said Bennett had lived a blameless life after leaving the school.

He married and went on to work as a wedding driver.