A FORMER deputy head teacher of Ripon Cathedral School who abused boy pupils at two schools has been jailed for 12 years.

Ian David Charles Atkinson, 59, denied six charges of indecent assault, one of inciting a boy to commit gross indecency and two of downloading indecent images of children, but was convicted at Bradford Crown Court at the end of a six-day trial.

Five of the offences happened in Ripon and the rest in Hampshire, where Atkinson, formerly of Staveley, Ripon, also taught.

The indecent images were discovered when Atkinson’s laptop was seized during police investigation into the other offences, which were committed in the 1990s and 2000s.

In addition to the jail term, he was put on the sex offenders’ register and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order, both for life.

Detective Constable Fiona Ayre of North Yorkshire Police said: “I praise the victims for having the courage to relive their ordeals in court and I hope the outcome can help them to move forward.”