Teaching assistant unmasked as 'sexual predator' who abused boys after fitting hidden camera in toilet

A teaching assistant who also worked with children as a volunteer has been unmasked as a sexual predator who abused boys, police have said.

Andrew Thompson - who police said abused his positions for his own sexual gratification - fitted a hidden camera in a toilet block at a centre he volunteered at working with youngsters, a force said. The camera was found in July 2022, sparking a police investigation.

Cheshire Police said it was sent for analysis and thousands of images were discovered, including footage of a man installing the camera later identified as Thompson. He was subsequently arrested in December, 2022.

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A number of other electronic devices he had were then seized and Thompson was released on conditional bail while they were analysed. Police said they went on to find thousands of indecent images of young boys on them.

The force said they included images of children taken at the school where Thompson was working, together with images of children he took while on trips with his voluntary work.

A police spokesman said: "Officers also spoke to a number of boys known to Thompson who revealed that he had sexually assaulted them."

Thompson, of Rossall Road, Great Sankey, Warrington, pleaded guilty to 33 offences in total, including nine counts of sexual assault of a child aged under 13; 19 counts of voyeurism; two counts of making indecent images; two counts of taking indecent images and one count of possession of indecent images.

He was jailed at Chester Crown Court on Monday for eight years.

"In addition to his prison sentence, he has also been ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life, is subject to a sexual harm prevention order, and is