Description
A music teacher who targeted young girls during a campaign of grooming, abuse and rape has been jailed for 11 years.
Matthew Birch, 45, who was said to regard adolescent girls as being fair game, attacked his victims while he worked at secondary schools in North Lanarkshire and Fife.
The former police officer had initially been described as a fun teacher and a father figure but a court was told that he preyed on vulnerable girls with musical talent.
Birch, of Edinburgh, was found guilty in December of nine charges including rape and engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust between 2006 and 2017. Passing sentence at the High Court in Glasgow, Judge William Gallacher said: You have been convicted of a