Description
A "manipulative" art teacher has been convicted of a string of indecent and sexual assaults against female pupils.
A court heard James Skelton Smith, 57, would regularly drop his pencil in order to crawl under desks in class.
After a three-day trial Smith, of Dundee, was found guilty of indecent assault, sexual assault, and breach of the peace.
The offences took place against current and former pupils over an 11-year period between 2008 and 2019.
Sheriff John Rafferty deferred sentence until next month for background reports.
He told Smith: "I found the Crown witnesses to be credible and reliable, in the main exceedingly impressive witnesses, and in some instances courageous witnesses.
"The case against you is compelling."
Creepy
Smith showed no emotion as the verdict was announced.
The court heard he had been suspended from the school, where he had worked as a part-time teacher for expressive art, for nine months and would now lose his job.
During the trial, three young schoolgirls said "creepy" Smith would repeatedly drop his pencil and crawl under their tables on his hands and knees, staring at their legs.
One woman said she left school early in her sixth year in 2009 because she "started getting the feeling that he was nudging our relationship somewhere I didn't want to go".
Another former female pupil said she had "played dead" after Smith, who taught at the school for 25 years, touched her inappropriately when she went back to his house after meeting him in Dundee.
Smith denied all the charges and described the account of a 17-year-old pupil he kissed as "Alice Through The Looking Glass".
But prosecutor Laura Bruce said: "He treated her in a way that made her feel grown up and feel special - and then he pounced."