Ex-teacher Piers Le Cheminant jailed for abusing pupils

A retired teacher has been jailed for sexually assaulting boys at the prestigious Salisbury Cathedral School and another boarding school.

Piers Le Cheminant was convicted of 10 indecent assaults against nine boys over a 21-year period.

Le Cheminant, of Newton Abbot, Devon, targeted boys at Oakwood boarding school in Chichester, West Sussex.

He then took up a position at the Wiltshire school, where his offending continued.

Le Cheminant has been jailed for nine years and was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register.

One of his pupils at Oakwood boarding school made a complaint about him, Winchester Court heard.

Le Cheminant would call boys to the front of the class and grope their buttocks while their classmates watched, the court was told.

He would also watch the boys shower after they had played sport and took some of his victims somewhere private, where he would indecently assault them.

Judge Timothy Mousley KC said the defendant had shown a "lack of remorse" for his crimes, which happened between 1965 and 1986.

He said: "One of the children was only eight years old when you started to abuse him.

"Each of these boys was particularly vulnerable and you took advantage of that.

"The harm was severe in some cases and you breached the trust which others expected of you. You have left them with appalling memories of their time at school."

As well as being jailed for nine years, Le Cheminant was given a lifelong sexual harm prevention order.

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