A RETIRED teacher from York has been jailed for 15 years for sexually abusing boys at a Leeds primary school where he taught in the 1970s and 1980s.

Norman Robinson preyed on his victims in his classroom and would often take Polaroid pictures as he carried out his abuse.

His catalogue of offending came to light after a former pupil contacted police in 2014, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Other victims then came forward as a result of publicity and told similar stories about how he treated them when he kept them back, allegedly for punishment or to tidy his classroom.

Gerald Hendron, prosecuting, said Robinson now 76, who retired from teaching in 1992, committed the offences against seven boys between 1976 and 1989 at a school in Gipton, in east Leeds, which has since been demolished.

One of the victims, whom Robinson forced to have sex with him behind a book cupboard when he was aged only eight or nine, had told first his babysitter and then his parents what had happened to him after wandering the streets trying to come to terms with it.

His parents said they had reported the matter to the head teacher and left it to her. The court heard it was never taken any further after the head decided the boy must have misinterpreted what had happened. Mr Hendron said efforts had been made since to find that head teacher to check that but without success.

He said several of the boys gave similar accounts about how Robinson would keep boys back after class on the pretext of punishment or tidying up. He kept a plimsole instead of a cane to inflict corporal punishment and would photograph them.

Sometimes he would show them a box containing indecent pictures of boys or himself and would ask if they wanted to do what was shown. One boy remembered being shown a photograph album by Robinson containing naked pictures of himself.

He showed another boy pornographic magazines and took back to his Leeds flat where he abused him. He abused another boy on trips to the seaside.

Mr Hendron said Robinson would also masturbate in front of boys in the toilets and expose himself.

When Robinson was arrested in 2014 a photo of one of his young victims was recovered, showing him lying under a desk with his trousers down.

Robinson’s phone was also found to contain indecent images of children. 544 were of the most serious level Category A, 376 at category B and 278 at category C.

Andrew Semple, representing Robinson, said he was now a man in failing health with diabetes and increasing mobility problems. Although he had admitted the offences he maintained he had no recollection of events.

Robinson of Middlecroft Grove, Strensall, York, admitted having sex with one boy, 16 charges of gross indecency or indecent assault, three of making indecent images, one of taking an indecent image and one of possessing indecent images. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

Jailing him Recorder Richard Gioserano said: “Parents send their children to school to be educated but also in the hope and belief they will be nurtured, happy and safe. In your hands however, these seven boys were not nurtured, happy or safe. Instead they were groomed, abused and damaged for your own sexual gratification. This was a gross breach of trust.”

“You clearly thought your position of power and trust would mean none of these boys would tell anyone and if they did that they would not be believed, and that is just what happened to one of them.”

He said Robinson’s abuse was “systematic and planned,” taking place over 10 years and said the photos on his phone showed his attitude to young boys had not changed.

After the case DCI Mark Griffin of Leeds District Safeguarding at West Yorkshire Police, said: "A dangerous individual who has committed a number of serious allegations against children is now behind bars where he can consider the consequences of his actions.

"Throughout this case the victims involved have displayed tremendous courage in coming forward and telling detectives what happened to them - despite the passage of time. I would like to pay tribute to them but also to the detectives who worked on this case and demonstrated their specialist skills and abilities to work with the victims and to achieve justice for them."