​A Gloucestershire school teacher has been jailed for sexually abusing a child.

Benjamin Clay, 35, was sentenced to three years imprisonment at Gloucester Crown Court today, Friday May 14.

Clay, from Hatherley, Cheltenham was convicted of two counts of indecent assault on a 13-year-old child, one count of indecency with a child under the age of 16 years, three counts of making an indecent image of a child and one count of possession of 189,308 indecent images of children.

He was also convicted of perverting the course of justice.

The offences are said to have taken place against girls Clay had taught while he was employed at a Cheltenham secondary school in the 1990s.

The former teacher was initially arrested in November 2009 following intelligence provided from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre with regard to online child abuse image offences.

He was suspended from his job at Lakeside Primary School, in Cheltenham, after details of the allegations emerged. The assaults were not committed while he was employed at Lakeside.

Detective Inspector Mark Little heads the Child Protection Unit at Gloucestershire Constabulary. He said: “Our priority is to protect children who are some of the most vulnerable members of our community.

“This investigation highlights the excellent close working with our partner agencies in Gloucestershire. The Constabulary, Gloucestershire County Council and Schools shared information, made appropriate decisions and acted quickly to protect children.

“Our Child Protection Unit has a dedicated Internet Investigations Unit that work in partnership to share information.

“Their dedication and professionalism, whilst dealing with such disturbing material, is a credit to the Constabulary.”

Following local media coverage of the initial prosecution in respect of ‘indecent images of children’, a member of the public bravely contacted the police to report sexual abuse that had happened to her as a child between 1997 and 1999.

D/Insp Mark Little said: “This case highlights the links between possessing indecent images of children and sexual offences against children.

“I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the courage of this woman in coming forward.

“We hope this case shows we take all reports of this nature extremely seriously, irrelevant of when they were committed and we will do all we can to ensure the offenders are brought to justice.”

Jane Bee, the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) in Gloucestershire said; “This has been a difficult and sad case for all involved.

“However, it has highlighted how well agencies in Gloucestershire work together, following well established procedures to ensure that the risks to children are identified and acted upon at the earliest opportunity.”