Locations
Hazel Mead, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU5
Description
A former school child protection officer who sexually abused his pupils has been jailed.
Alexander Charles Ralls, 47, was found guilty of over 40 non-recent sexual offences at Bradford Crown Court.
The court heard he had carried out the offences while working at York public school Queen Ethelburga's.
Ralls, of Hazel Mead in Bedfordshire, was jailed for 16 years on Monday, and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.
During a six-week trial at Bradford Crown Court, it was heard how, over a four-year period, Ralls used his position of trust to exploit his victims in the UK and on school trips abroad.
He was suspended from teaching and subsequently dismissed in 2015 following a disclosure made by a former student, according to the school.
'Sickening actions'
North Yorkshire Police said Ralls posed as a person with medical knowledge who told his victims to remove their clothes to examine them and then molested them.
Ralls was found guilty of 31 charges of sexual assault, 10 charges of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and two charges of assault by penetration.
Investigating officer Det Con Suzanne Hall said Ralls had used his position of trust to "coerce and influence".
Det Con Hall added: "The extent of his offending was staggering and the fact that he continued to use the same excuse of providing medical care to carry out his sickening actions, shows his utter arrogance towards and contempt of his victims."
A spokesperson for Queen Ethelburga's said "significant improvements in safeguarding practices" had been made since then.
The spokesperson said the school wanted to express their "heartfelt sorrow and regret" to the victims.