They are the people we put our trust in to look after our children, keep them safe and educate them.
The trust put into teachers is paramount – they are those appointed to take care of children and look out for their welfare. The vast majority do this. They are passionate about their roles, caring and valuable.
However, there is a sick minority who go against the grain, committing vile offences, even against the young people they have been tasked with caring for. Ending up in court, these teachers have all been dealt with by judges in our county. They have all been looked up for the offences they have committed – some against children.
Here are some of the teachers who have been locked up at Yorkshire’s courts this year that you need to know about.
Simon Murch
Sheffield primary school teacher Simon Murch is behind bars after he raped a 12-year-old girl
(Image: Staffordshire Police)
Sheffield primary school teacher Murch travelled nearly 50 miles to rape a 12-year-old schoolgirl in a hotel and then took her to a toy shop.
Murch, of Parkside Road, met the girl online. She told him she was 18 when she was only 12. The 55-year-old asked her to send indecent images of herself and arranged to meet her at a hotel in Stoke-on-Trent.
Murch was jailed for seven-and-a-half years with an extended licence period of one year. He will serve two thirds of the custodial sentence (five years) before he can be considered for release by the parole board. He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life and was made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).
Read the full story here.
John Noel
John Noel breached a court order by privately tutoring children
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Sick private tutor Noel breached a court order banning him from teaching children. He was jailed for three years after Leeds Crown Court heard how he defied the terms of the Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) which was put in place in June 2024 after he made indecent images of children and possessed extreme pornography.
He then breached the order by working with children aged five to 17 as a private maths, English and science teacher. Read the full story here.
Denise Povall
Paedophile Denise Povall has been jailed after sexually abusing a ten-year-old boy
(Image: North Yorkshire Police)
Teaching assistant Povall, 61, from Ripon, was put behind bars for eight years after she groomed a 10-year-old boy. She bought him gifts and sent him texts before attacking him.
North Yorkshire Police said she carried out an “evil and sustained” campaign of sexual exploitation, had sex with the boy and performed sex acts on him. Read the full story here.
Acasia Welburn
Acasia Welburn
(Image: North Yorkshire Police)
Sick Welburn was jailed for two-and-a-half years in July after sexually abusing an autistic boy at the school she worked at. She admitted three charges of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.
York Crown Court heard her campaign of abuse took place while she was working at a school in North Yorkshire. She initially made contact with the boy on social media which involved the sharing of sexual messages and images. A shocking string of abuse followed on from this when she met the victim on a regular basis and sexually abused him in her car and flat. Read the full story here.
John Gaukroger
John Gaukroger has been jailed more than 40 years after abusing a young boy
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Sick pensioner Gaukroger, 91, finally faced justice and was jailed for abusing a young boy almost 50 years ago. He was put behind bars for over two years after a jury sitting on his trial at Leeds Crown Court found him guilty of two counts of indecent assault against a boy in the 1970s.
The court heard Gaukroger helped out at a centre which cared for children after school and would take them on camping trips. He preyed on the victim – who was under 10 at the time – between 1975 and 1976. The victim came forward to police in 2020 and an investigation was launched. Read the full story here.
Alejandro Castillo
Alejandro Castillo ‘lured’ a group of boys to his home for a ‘party’
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Sick teacher Castillo abused two teenage boys he had met at a bus station after inviting them back to his flat for a “party.”
Cannabis and pizza was put on at Castillo’s home and nothing happened that night, but the next day he invited two of them over again, but four attended. A court heard he sent a number of boys away with money and this time preyed upon two of them.
One of the boys drank until he passed out and was very unwell. He recalled being in the bathroom naked and waking up in Castillo’s bed with him attempting to perform sexual activity with him. Castillo then attempted to kiss one of the other boys. He was jailed for 18 months. Read the full story here.
John Staveley
Former football coach John Staveley has been jailed
(Image: South Yorkshire Police)
Former football coach and teacher targeted young boys and abused them over the course of a decade from the late 1990s. His victims finally saw justice handed out when evil Staveley was found guilty of nine counts of gross indecency with a boy under 14, two counts of indecent assault on a boy under the age of 16, and one count of causing or inciting a boy under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity. He was jailed for nine-and-a-half years. Read the full story here.
David Ramsay
Music teacher David Ramsay is behind bars
(Image: West Yorkshire Police)
Sick teacher Ramsay sexually abused a teenage girl and then kissed her friend during a vodka-fuelled game of spin the bottle. He was jailed for five years. Read the full story here.
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