Locations
Bowdon, Greater Manchester, WA14
Description
The former TV weatherman Fred Talbot has been jailed for five years for indecently assaulting two schoolboys when he was a teacher.
Talbot, who was a regular on ITVs This Morning show, was described at his trial as a chancer who used his boundless energy and extrovert personality to gain the affection and trust of his victims.
The 65-year-old, who was cleared of assaulting three other boys, was sentenced by Judge Timothy Mort at Manchesters Minshull Street crown court. The judge told him: You deliberately and indecently assaulted the two of them for your own gratification.
Talbot, who was remanded in custody when he was convicted in February, showed no emotion as he was jailed. He appeared relaxed as he entered the dock and acknowledged people in the packed courtroom.
Suzanne Goddard QC, defending, said there was little that could be said in mitigation. She said Talbot had lost a stone in weight during his time in custody but was accustoming himself to life in jail.
Goddard said: He knows he must now receive a custodial sentence. He has come to terms with that.
The jury at last months trial heard that Talbot was obsessed with teenage boys throughout his teaching career and could not help himself around them when under the influence of drink.
Among the prosecution witnesses at the trial was the Stone Roses singer Ian Brown, who said Talbot gave masturbation practice as homework.
Prosecutors said Talbots modus operandi was to first establish his good guy credentials and then to break down the proper teacher-pupil boundaries, leaving his victims confused as he made his advances.
Talbot, of Bowdon, Greater Manchester, was convicted of two counts of indecent assault in relation to two complainants and cleared of eight counts of indecent assault in relation to three other complainants.
Four of the complainants were teenage pupils at Altrincham grammar school for boys, where Talbot taught biology, while the other attended a high school in Gateshead when the defendant was at teacher training college.
The science teacher denied anything sexual or even inappropriate occurred between himself and the Altrincham pupils, while he said sexual activity with the Gateshead complainant only happened when the boy had turned 16.
Both of Talbots victims were assaulted on school canal barge trips in the Cheshire area in the mid 1970s.
The first victim, who thought he was 14 at the time, said the teacher abused him after a mock naked orgy involving up to 10 boys and Talbot. Talbot told him to share a bed with him as there were not enough bunk beds to go round, and performed a sex act on him.
It emerged that he had reported the weatherman to police on four occasions dating back to 1992, but no action had been taken.
The second victim, who also thought he may have been aged 14 at the time, was abused on another barge trip in similar circumstances. He said boys would take turns to sleep in Talbots bed during the trip and when it was his turn the defendant started talking to me about sexual stuff before indecently assaulting him.
The complainant said when he was aged in his late 20s he had written toGranada Television to tell bosses Talbot had abused him.
The court heard that Talbots teaching career came to an abrupt end in May 1984 following an indecent proposal he made to two pupils at his home. He offered his bed for the night to the 15-year-old boys and said to them: Make sure you leave room for me in the middle.
Following the verdicts, it can be reported that a number of similar complaints against Talbot about offences said to have been committed in Scotland have been passed by police to the procurator fiscal.
Edinburgh-born Talbot moved at the age of seven to Sale, Greater Manchester, and later studied A-levels at Sale grammar school.
After a spell at teacher training college in the Newcastle area he joined Altrincham grammar school in 1974. He resigned in disgrace in 1984 and went into television a short time later, with one of his first jobs on a Saturday morning childrens show.
The investigation was triggered in December 2012 following publicity into a separate historic abuse inquiry at another Altrincham school, St Ambrose College, which led to a nine-year jail term for ex-teacher Alan Morris.