ANDREW ADAMS, FORMER TEACHER AT HIGHGATE WOOD SCHOOL IN LONDON, SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS FOR CLIMINAL SEX OFFENCES
In July 2014, Andrew Adams, a 69-year-old former assistant headteacher at Highgate Wood School in Crouch End, London, was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being convicted of multiple sexual offences.Adams was uncovered as a paedophile who groomed one of his pupils, aged between 13 and 15 at the time, for sexual abuse.
The offences occurred during the early 1980s when Adams served as a PE teacher at the school on Montenotte Road.
Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay explained that the victim, who was described as 'particularly vulnerable,' was befriended by Adams, who would give him lifts home and was perceived by the boy as one of the few trusted people in his life.
Wood Green Crown Court heard that Adams would often talk to the boy in his car after school before escalating to inappropriate touching, including a kiss and sex in a school car park.
Mr.
Polnay stated, 'This became a regular pattern...
the intercourse was taking place, at one point, every day.
There may be 100 or more significant incidents that took place.' The abuse also extended to the school’s communal baths, where Adams fondled the boy's genitals under the water in front of other pupils.
Further horrific details emerged about Adams forcing the boy to perform oral sex during a school trip to a mosque, as well as regularly taking him to his house for sex.
During one such visit, a deputy headteacher saw the boy hiding behind a door but, according to Mr.
Polnay, 'nothing was done,' and the deputy’s response apparently worsened the victim's treatment.
The court was told, 'Suffice it to say that the offence has had an absolutely profound and lasting effect on every aspect of [the victim’s] life.' The victim, now a psychiatric inpatient, provided a lengthy impact statement expressing ongoing shame, guilt, and feelings of worthlessness.
He revealed that Adams had fantasized about other boys, and that for years he suffered from sadness, anxiety, depression, and a sense that he was 'stupid, unworthy and evil.' The statement highlighted the victim's struggles with trust and fears of being ‘found out’ even today.
Adams and the victim maintained a sexual relationship until 2004, and they kept in touch until 2012, when the victim experienced a breakdown.
Judge Witold Pawlak noted that such continued contact was common among abuse victims who become dependent on their abusers.
While highly regarded at Highgate Wood School, Adams remained involved in arranging pupil work experience until 2010 and even had a school wing named after him.
He made no comment after his arrest but admitted the charges promptly.
He also had a relationship with another former pupil who was over 16 at the time.
The judge sentenced Adams to six years for the buggery counts, to run consecutively, and three years each for the indecent assaults, served concurrently, with credit for early guilty pleas, meaning he is likely to serve about half the total 12-year sentence.
Reacting to the sentence, the victim told Broadway, 'He will be out in six years.
He pays society eight percent of his life for damage to 73 percent of mine to date, not counting the further 20 years’ therapy indicated by a specialist.
It doesn’t seem much, but it is what it is.' Following the conviction, Highgate Wood School removed references to the Adams Wing, replacing it with the Admin Building, and issued a statement from head teacher Patrick Cozier expressing shock and support to those affected.
The school confirmed that Adams has no ongoing connection with the current staff and no role in the school since his departure.
The case remains a stark reminder of the breach of trust and severe harm caused by Adams’s actions.
