JOHN KING CAUGHT IN HERTFORDSHIRE AND LEIGHTON BUZZARD CHILD PORNOGRAPHY SCANDAL

In April 2013, a disturbing case emerged involving John King, a former supply PE teacher with a dark obsession that spanned several years and multiple locations across Hertfordshire and Leighton Buzzard. The case revealed a pattern of heinous misconduct, where King secretly filmed school children in various states of undress, capturing images of their underwear without their knowledge or consent.

King's illicit activities took place across 11 different schools situated in towns such as St Albans, Watford, Hemel Hempstead, Welwyn, Radlett, Bushey, and Flamstead. The court heard that King was particularly fixated on the white underpants worn by young primary school children. To facilitate his voyeuristic pursuits, he would discreetly set up hidden video cameras inside bags or briefcases, positioning them in changing rooms to record children as they changed clothes. His obsession was so intense that he kept detailed diaries, meticulously documenting his perversions and describing how he had filmed the children, often expressing pleasure upon viewing the footage later.

Prosecutor Michael Speak told the court during the proceedings at St Albans Crown Court that King’s diary entries made it clear he had a specific interest in the underwear of children, regardless of gender. The entries contained almost poetic descriptions of the whiteness and purity of the underpants, and King admitted to being aroused by what he had seen. He regarded his disturbing activities as his “life’s work,” a phrase that underscored the depth of his obsession.

At the time of his crimes, King was living on a canal boat named 'The Jellicle Moon' on the Grand Union Canal at Church Lock, Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. His role as a supply PE teacher, often assigned through an agency, provided him access to multiple schools where he carried out his illicit filming. Over a period of five years, from 2003 to 2008, King filmed numerous boys and girls at these schools, a fact established during the court proceedings.

King, aged 50 at the time of his arrest, first came under police scrutiny in December 2011. Detectives in Staffordshire arrested another individual involved in sharing King’s secret films, which had been sent to him by someone who also enjoyed viewing children in their underwear. This investigation led authorities to King’s residence, where they discovered his journals in a lock-up garage connected to his canal boat. These journals detailed his covert filming activities over many years, revealing a disturbing pattern of behavior.

Further investigations uncovered that King had downloaded child sex abuse images from the internet, some of the most severe and disturbing types. Police also found still images of children in states of undress, which appeared to be stills taken from covertly recorded video clips, indicating the use of hidden cameras. In August of the previous year, police finally arrested King after extensive inquiries. During the search, officers found 66 pairs of boys’ underpants in a kit bag belonging to him, along with additional CDs and slides stored in plastic containers, all revealing his perversion.

The court was shown videos recovered from King’s devices, which depicted children getting dressed or undressed. Authorities identified the schools involved based on the uniforms visible in the footage. Diary entries further revealed that King had targeted certain children whom he considered special, enjoying watching videos of young boys changing for football or other activities. In one particularly disturbing entry, he expressed a desire to extend his stay at a school to take more secret footage of a girl in her underwear.

During police interviews, King admitted to his interest in children’s underwear and confessed that he derived sexual gratification from viewing such footage. He also stated that he had never engaged in a sexual relationship with anyone. In addition to voyeurism charges, King pleaded guilty to four counts of making indecent images of children, four counts of possessing such images, and two counts of distributing them.

His defense attorney, Miss Giuseppina Silvio, acknowledged that King had made a full and frank admission, recognizing that his actions breached the trust placed in him by the children, their parents, and colleagues. She emphasized that there was no physical harm caused to any of the children involved.

Judge Steven Gullick sentenced King to three and a half years in prison, emphasizing the severity of his breach of trust. The judge also noted that King’s actions worsened when he sent three films to a man in Staffordshire. King was disqualified from working with children for life and was ordered to be subject to a sexual offences prevention order for the remainder of his life. His name will also be entered onto the sex offenders’ register, marking a significant and serious conviction for his crimes.