August 2008 Pervert teacher escapes jail as judge changes his mind A Retford school teacher has escaped jail for sexual offences against two schoolgirls after a judge changed his mind about his sentence. At first Judge Jonathon Teare jailed Richard Dixon, 47, who has resigned from the Elizabethan High School, for three years – but ten minutes later went back on his decision. After being seen privately by counsel in the case, the Judge said he had been reminded that at an earlier hearing he had said he would not ‘close the door on Dixon’. Because of this earlier indication, Judge Teare changed the sentence to two years, suspended for two years with supervision. But the Judge at the hearing at Nottingham Crown Court today added that he thought the original sentence was correct. Dixon, who had been living in Worksop, before being bailed to an undisclosed address, admitted indecently assaulting one girl and encouraging the second to look at sexually explicit material. The girls, both aged 13, were not pupils at his school where he was a head of year. He assaulted the first girl in 1995, said Michael Bauty, prosecuting, and the other offences took place in 2005. In mitigation it was said that Dixon was of previous good character and would never again be able to work in his profession. Judge Teare told him: “You are a school teacher and know where the boundaries are set.” An order was made preventing him working with children and he will be on the sex offender register for seven years