Former Teacher Adam Gutteridge Jailed For Sexually Abusing Teenage Girls

Former Teacher Jailed For Sexually Abusing Young Girls
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A former teacher who went on to star in a TV advert has been jailed for sexually abusing three teenage pupils.

Adam Gutteridge was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to 10 sexual abuse charges at an earlier hearing.

The 38-year-old, of Earlsfield Road, Earlsfield, London, was teaching at a school in Dorset when the offences took place. He later moved to London and stared in a prime time TV advert.

Sentencing Gutteridge, Judge Peter Johnson said: "You betrayed the trust of your colleagues, parents and most of all the three girls you abused.

"What was going on was disgraceful, damaging conduct on your behalf."

Gutteridge, who worked at the school from September 2002 to August 2007, groomed two of the girls using an internal messaging system at the school with the pretence of helping them with their studies.

Simon Jones, prosecuting, said the messages quickly turned sexual and Gutteridge asked one of the pupils whether she was a virgin.

During webcam chats, Gutteridge also asked the girl to show him her breasts.

The court heard their relationship started with cuddling and kissing, but progressed through to oral sex and eventually full intercourse, with the girl visiting his house on almost a daily basis.

Mr Jones said: "She told police how she hated doing it and it made her feel sick, but she saw the defendant as her boyfriend.

"At times she said she didn't want to and it made her cry."

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Adam Gutteridge was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to 10 sexual abuse charges.

Gutteridge's relationship with his third victim started in a similar fashion, with the defendant using the internal MSN facility to start up conversations.

He went on to invite her to his home on New Year's Eve to watch films.

"He hugged her and kept telling her what an amazing person she was," Mr Jones told the court.

On another occasion he asked her for a kiss and told her that it was his birthday and that he "deserved it" while he stroked her leg.

He also asked her to send him photographs of herself, telling her that that was what a normal girlfriend would do. As such, she sent him photos of her in her underwear.

"She thought she was in love with the defendant and would tell him this," Mr Jones said.

Gutteridge preyed on another of his victims during a school visit to Plymouth, Devon.

The girl had just split up with her boyfriend and asked to speak to Gutteridge, who was described to the court as a "cool" and popular teacher who the children could talk to easily.

She invited him up to her room where they were staying at the university halls and told police he had seemed drunk.

But not long after he arrived she asked him to leave, to which Gutteridge told the girl he would not go until he had ejaculated.

She later told police she felt she had "dug her own hole" and felt she had to follow through.

It was not until one of the victims saw Gutteridge appearing on a prime time television advert for a recruitment agency that she came forward to police.

In victim impact statements read to the court, the girls said they felt their teenage years had been taken from them, with one adding her "world seems a darker place" now.

She said: "I felt naïve, confused and disturbed as a child."

She added it should have been a "happy" last year at school but instead she felt "cheated of a normal adolescence".

Another said that Gutteridge had groomed her into thinking the relationship was "right", but that she now knows her teenage years were taken from her and she never got the chance to do "normal" teenage things.

Gutteridge pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual activity with a child, two of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two of sexual activity with a child being a person in a position of trust.

He was sentenced to a total of four years' imprisonment and made subject to the restrictions of the Sex Offenders Register.

Gutteridge had also pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual activity with a child, which the crown accepted and said they would take no further action in connection with that charge.

Simon Kitchen, representing Gutteridge, told the court that his client's wife and family were in court to support him.

He said Gutteridge's wife knew about the offences before any of the victims came forward and the pair were in a loving relationship.

"When the police knocked on his door, it came as something of a relief to the defendant," Mr Kitchen said.

"He had been anxiously waiting, knowing his past would eventually catch up with him.

"Evidence of his contrition is that when he met his wife in 2008 he made a full confession to her. She forgave him. It was wholly out of character for the man she loved."

Mr Kitchen argued the fact that Gutteridge had been in a loving relationship for four years showed his client has no habitual attraction to young girls and that his earlier confession to his wife was an indication he had moved away from those issues.

"He comes to court today thoroughly ashamed and thoroughly contrite," he added. "He now looks back with the greatest shame and the greatest regret for the hurt he caused his victims."

Mr Kitchen told the court his client knows there is "no real excuse" for the way he behaved, but said he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder following his involvement in the Childers hostel fire in Australia in 2000.

It was revealed to the court Gutteridge had rescued several backpackers from the blaze, which killed 15 people.

Mr Kitchen added that his client had been hailed a hero at the time but that following the event he was dealing with the psychiatric problems it had caused by avoidance and he had an inability to function with other adults, finding it easier to relate to the younger generation.

But he added: "It does seem that since 2008 things have improved. This is a man that will never offend in the same way again."

After moving to London, Gutteridge went on to join the comedy trio The Wogans with some success at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and on BBC radio before appearing in the television advert for Reed.co.uk.

Following the sentence, Simon Jones, senior crown advocate for the Crown Prosecution Service Wessex, said: "Adam Gutteridge grossly abused the position of trust he had while he was a teacher by sexually abusing three teenage girls.

"Gutteridge was newly-qualified when he began his career at the school in September 2002. He started abusing a pupil through online communication and the pretence of helping her with studies.

"He groomed her in order to obtain sexual gratification.

"He also sexually abused two other young girls. He used their innocence and vulnerability to his advantage, confusing them and making them think that he was their boyfriend.

"In 2007, he left the school and it was when he appeared in a TV advert that one of his victims recognised him and brought back the terrible memories she had of his abuse.

"The other two victims also came forward and today we would like to thank all of them for their courage. Without them, Gutteridge would have not been brought to justice for the crimes he committed against them.

"We know that his abuse has had a devastating impact on the victims' lives and we hope now that they will be able to move on."