December 1999 Sex case teacher gets six years A geography teacher who “groomed and wooed” besotted teenage pupils before molesting them was yesterday jailed for six years. Leeds crown court heard that Geoffrey Johnson, 52, indecently assaulted five pupils over the 20 years between 1968 and 1988, having sex with one 14-year-old girl in a storeroom at Woodkirk high school, Leeds, and another 13-year-old in his car on the moors. The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Brian Walsh, QC, told him he was a disgrace to his profession. Philip Standfast, prosecuting, told the court the offences began in 1968, when Johnson, of Morley, Leeds, started work at the 1,500-pupil school as a 21-year-old graduate. He said: “Over a period of years certain naive and perhaps vulnerable schoolgirls became attracted to Mr Johnson and it was the case that by flattery and persuasion he took advantage of their naivety in order to commit sexual offences against them.” In 1968 Johnson fondled a 13-year-old pupil in a storeroom and the relationship developed into regular sex in his car on the moors. It was this girl who finally went to the police earlier this year. The court heard Johnson’s next relationship was with a 15-year-old pupil in 1970. While they were still having a relationship he started an affair with a 13-year-old pupil, and in 1978 he began another relationship with a fourth girl. They had regular sex in the school storeroom. The final offence occurred in 1988 when Johnson kissed and cuddled a sixth former in the storeroom. The teacher, who admitted 15 indecent assaults, originally pleaded guilty to eight rapes and seven indecent assaults. But yesterday he pleaded not guilty to the rape charges and they were changed to indecent assault.