Vile headteacher sexually attacked young boys in school

A former headteacher had been jailed after he molested 19 boys over a decade. Christopher Pickup, 76, taught at two Oldham primary schools in the 1970s and 1980s, and in the latter years moved onto being a headteacher.

Throughout a 12 year period he sexually assaulted boys between the ages of eight and 11 in classrooms, in his office and on school trips. Minshull Street Crown Court heard this was part of the ‘systematic and calculated’ sexual abuse of children.

Earlier this year Pickup, of Shaw, was found guilty of 37 offences of sexual assault following a trial. Today (September 2) he was jailed for 10 years.

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Prosecuting, Daniel Calder said that Pickup was 'admired and respected' by colleagues and parents and described as a teacher that 'everybody loved'. However, he said he had ‘another side’ which saw 19 boys fall ‘prey’ to his sickening abuse.

“During class, the defendant would invite the child up to his desk at the front and make the child stand at the side of his desk which offered an obstructive view of what was happening,” Mr Calder said.

“It was during that time that he would touch and fondle the boys genitals over clothing.”

After Pickup moved to a new school and became headteacher, he was ‘adept at engineering situations’ which provided him access to the boys, the prosecutor said.

“They always took place in the headmaster’s office, which the Crown say is a hallmark of the brazen way in which the offences were committed. They were not always in private, this also happened in public areas like classrooms and the badminton courts,” Mr Calder added.

He said Pickup had the ‘supreme confidence’ due