Matthew Smith has been sentenced to 12 years in prison (Picture: Central News/PA)
The former deputy head teacher of Prince George’s old school has been jailed for paying teenagers to sexually abuse children in India.
Matthew Smith, from East Dulwich, was sentenced to 12 years after investigators found he had spent £65,000 for abuse material on the dark web.
Southwark Crown Court heard the 35-year-old was online at the time of his arrest in November last year.
He was speaking to a teenage boy living in India and asking him to send sexual images of a younger child in return for money.
Smith also had dark web sites and forums open on his computer which were dedicated to child sexual abuse.
National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators looked through chat logs and financial transactions and were able to establish that Smith had paid the same teenager, and another also based in India, a total of £65,398 to abuse children over a five-year period.
In total officers recovered more than 120,000 indecent images of children which Smith had saved on his laptop.
The chat logs showed that Smith would instruct the young men to perform sexual acts on boys and would send them images and videos as examples of ones he would like to receive in return.
He paid teenagers £65,000 to sexually abuse children in India (Picture: PA)
He also gave one of them advice on how befriend children and build their trust with a view to abusing them.
Smith was living in Nepal and working at a school for the majority of this time.
He spent various periods working in orphanages and NGOs across India between 2007-2014.
Investigators found evidence of potential offending by Smith against children while he was working in India.
He moved the UK in July 2022 and began working at Thomas’s Battersea in September, where he was a deputy head teacher and head of pastoral care.
That summer, Smith posted an online advert looking to secure a flat share, in which he said he was a primary school teacher and could assist with childcare.
Smith pleaded guilty to 22 counts, including encouraging the rape of a child under 13, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, and arranging the sexual abuse of a child.
He is also subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and has been placed on the sex offenders register for life.
Helen Dore, Senior Officer of the National Crime Agency, said: ‘Matthew Smith is a prolific offender and master manipulator, who coerced young men into abusing children on his behalf.
‘He constantly sought out opportunities to gain access to children, but was adept at hiding his sexual interest in them. He conducted his offending while working as a teacher and head of pastoral care – a deep betrayal of the trust placed in him.
‘It’s clear Smith has absolutely no empathy for his victims and the harm he has caused them.’
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‘He conducted his offending while working as a teacher and head of pastoral care.’Â
