March 2003 Music teacher jailed for sex assaults A music teacher who admitted sexually assaulting children while they were drugged has been jailed for eight years. Geoffrey Kitchen, of Scalby Way, Scarborough, pleaded guilty at York Crown Court to arange of assaults on boys aged between nine and 15. Kitchen, 48, whipped, beat and blindfolded many of his victims. Judge Paul Hoffman described the case as one of the most depraved he had ever come across. The assaults began in 1986 and ended in 2002 when Kitchen was arrested. ‘Sadomasochistic nature’ On one occasion he handcuffed a boy and tied him with a cord to a bed. He denied seven charges of drugging the children with intent to commit offences on them. The prosecution accepted he had administered the drug amyl nitrate to heighten the boys’ pleasure rather than to coerce them. Andrew Murray, defending, said his client was full of remorse and begged for forgiveness. In sentencing, the Recorder of York, Judge Hoffman, said Kitchen was a risk to the public. He said: “The offences became a way of life for the boys. “As I see it this case involved systematic sexual corruption by you of a sadomasochistic nature over a period of 16 years.”