A driving instructor who sexually assaulted female students – some as they drove his car – escaped jail today.
Pervert Barry Morgan, 58, put his hand up one victim’s jumper and touched her bra during a lesson.
He also groped four other women through their clothing – even while they were at the wheel of his vehicle.
Morgan would turn up the heating inside his vehicle to encourage his victims to remove layers of clothing before he assaulted them.
Plymouth Crown Court heard that some of the victims were so traumatised they stopped taking lessons and were too scared to tell their parents why.
Morgan, who was employed by BSM for 15 years, admitted the attacks which took place between October 2008 and December 2009.
He was handed a suspended sentence, having previously pleaded guilty to six charges of sexual assault on five pupils.
Judge Francis Gilbert QC told him: ”While you were working as a driving instructor you abused the trust that several students placed in you.
”You groped them on their legs and breasts sometimes while they were driving. This included a girl of 17, you put your hand up her clothing touching her breasts over her bra and on her thighs.
”This offence was traumatic and one girl in particular has had ongoing difficulties.
”You operated a pattern of behaviour, for example you frequently turned up the heating to get them to remove their tops and described what you were doing as a game.”
Morgan was arrested after one girl plucked up the courage to tell the police he had assaulted her in November 2009.
Several other girls then came forward claiming Morgan had touched them over their clothes on their breasts, shoulders and back.
Another claimed he had put his hand up her jumper and into her bra twice during lessons.
The court heard that one girl claimed he would ”constantly tell her to take her jumper off” and ”kept turning up the heating”.
Morgan, of Plymouth, Devon, also asked the girls how many partners they had had and left some feeling unable to do anything as he was so much older than them.
David Gittins, prosecuting, said: ”He was in a position of some trust, in a car alone with female pupils. Some of which were comparatively young.
”He accompanied inappropriate touching with banter saying to each girl that if they made a mistake in their driving you would give them a squeeze.
”They were too intimidated to admit what was going on. Some told him they didn’t like it but this did not deter him.
”Some carried on because they had paid in advance for their driving lessons.”
Piers Norswothy, mitigating, said Morgan was previously a man of good character who recognised his ”gross breach of trust”.
”There is no real explanation for these offences,” he said. ”In all other aspects of his life he was a kind generals and caring individual.”
Before he became a driving instructor, Morgan served in the army for 22 years and lost a foot and part of his leg in the Falklands.
He was given a 12 month jail sentence, suspended for two years and ordered to complete 240 hours of unpaid work.
He has already been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register following his guilty plea.
A spokesman for BSM, for which Morgan worked, said he had been suspended, and the Driving Standards Agency notified, as soon as a complaint was received.
He has not worked for BSM since and the firm said it had co-operated fully with police and social services.
Touch accompanied inappropriate jokes to tell each girl that if she made a mistake in his conduct, he shakes.
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