A Peeping Tom PE teacher who described his obsession with the white underwear of pupils as his ‘life’s work’ has been jailed.
John King secretly filmed girls and boys getting changed – and traded his footage with fellow paedophiles.
He tucked a spy camera in his briefcase to sneak glimpses of the white underwear of the youngsters.
Vile King, 50, also watched the footage at home and kept graphic diaries of his sordid perversion.
He carefully analysed his films in the journals and detailed the pleasure he got from watching them.
In one note he revealed how he singled out some of the unsuspecting children as ‘special’ for filming.
Another entry described how he wished he could extend his stay at the school to take more secret footage of one particular schoolgirl in her underwear.
King was arrested in August 2012 after police in Staffordshire arrested a man who had been sent some of his depraved films.
King, who was living on a canal boat, was also found to have downloaded severe internet child sex abuse images.
St. Albans Crown Court heard how his filming offences spanned five years and happened when he was posted as a supply teacher to a school in Hertfordshire.
King admitted 11 counts of voyeurism, four of making indecent photos of children, four of possessing indecent images of children and two of distributing indecent images.
Judge Steven Gullick jailed him for three and a half years and told him his offences were made worse because he had traded his sordid material online.
The judge said: “These children know they have been surreptitiously photographed by their teacher which will understandably have some effect on them.
“The degree of the breach of trust is very considerable indeed.”
Michael Speak, prosecuting, said: “It was clear from the diary entries he had a particular interest in the underwear of children, whether boys or girls.
“He spoke of being aroused by what he had seen and talking in almost poetic terms about underpants and the purity of their whiteness. He described it as his life’s work”
Miss Giuseppina Silvio, defending, said: “He takes full responsibility for what he has done. Fortunately there was no direct physical harm to any of the children.
“He clearly had an interest in the underwear of the children. It was never his intention to harm them physically.”
King was disqualified from ever working with children and made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order for the rest of his life.
His name will also go on the Sex Offenders’ Register.
