Kenneth Francis: 'Dark paedophile inclination' choirmaster jailed

A former boarding school choirmaster with a "dark paedophile inclination" has been jailed for abusing four boys.

Kenneth Francis assaulted his victims at Widford Lodge Boarding School in Chelmsford during the 1970s.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard Francis touched boys' genitals and told one of them: "This is our secret."

Francis, 72, of Akasaka in Tokyo, was jailed for 12 years after being found guilty of 15 counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency.

The court heard the boys were under the age of 16.

The attacks also took place at the defendant's then home in Boreham between 1972 and 1979, with Francis giving alcohol to some of his victims.

The court heard he had kissed pupils during one-to-one lessons before touching their genitals.

During the trial, one of the victims said he had been abused beneath the school stage then given rewards by the choirmaster, which he told police were "for my performance under the stage".

Jacqueline Carey, defending, told the court Francis later moved to Jersey and for "30 years or the best part thereof he was a highly regarded man", adding there was an "absence of offending" for this period.

She said he lived with his husband in Japan but that there was "great uncertainty about whether he will be able to return" following his conviction.

Judge David Turner QC said at sentencing: "Behind the facade of competency, respectability and uprightness you hid a dark paedophile inclination which was to blight the life of those boys and leave a profound legacy of psychological damage."

Francis must also sign the sex offenders register for life and was made subject of a 12-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, banning him from contact with any boy under 16.