GUILTY - 'Predatory paedophile' Rushden teacher Robert Gould DID molest 14 boys as jury finds him guilty. A former South End Juniors teacher has this afternoon been convicted of a string of serious sex assault and rape charges against his school pupils. Robert Gould, 74, was today (Monday, January 27) convicted of 29 out of the 30 charges against him by a jury of nine men and three women who had taken three days to carefully consider their verdicts. The prosecution had offered no evidence on a 31st count. This lunchtime the judge directed that he would accept majority verdicts on some of the counts after they failed to reach a consensus. And at 3.40pm, after 12 hours and 43 minutes of deliberations, the jury returned to court number four at Northampton Crown Court. They had heard two weeks of overwhelming evidence against him, including many details that were far too graphic to publish in this newspaper.Gould, of Wellingborough Road, Rushden, watched from the dock as the jury read each guilty verdict in turn. He had brought with him a large holdall packed with his possessions. His wife, herself a former teacher, who has attended the trial every day, was there to hear the verdicts.Today, the Northants Telegraph publishes the first pictures of Gould, who was described during the trial as ‘a paedophile hiding in plain sight.’Most of the 30 charges against him, including a rape and numerous indecent assaults, related to victims who were aged about 10 at South End Juniors in Wymington Road between 1972 and 1988. But the two most serious assaults were perpetrated against other people who he met through other connections. One boy was assaulted at Park Road Methodist Church youth club, which was run by Gould and his wife, who remains an official in the Methodist organisation. The other was molested by Gould after he met him through family connections. The jury had also been told of Gould’s previous convictions from 1988, when he had abused five more boys. He had denied all the charges, forcing his victims to come to court to give evidence against him. His Honour Judge David Herbert KC warned Gould he is facing a ‘substantial’ jail term. He will be sentenced at the end of February. Defence barrister James Gray said that his client had asked to be remanded in custody as he is ‘realistic’ about his fate. He will be held in prison and a pre-sentence report will be compiled, which will also help the judge to consider Gould’s future dangerousness.Following the verdict, senior crown prosecutor from the CPS East Midlands rape and serious sexual offences unit Emma Cornell said: “Robert Gould passed himself off as a respectable primary school teacher and church volunteer. Behind the outwardly respectable mask, he was a paedophile and a predator, constantly abusing boys in his care and seeking to commit increasingly serious sexual offences. “Gould’s 16-year campaign of abuse wrecked the lives of these 14 people. They have come forward now and told their story and I hope that seeing their abuser revealed for what he truly is will be of comfort to them and help them rebuild their lives. “Today is about justice for the men who survived Gould’s abuse as children and for the family of the young man who passed away in 2013. Our message is simple. Abuse is abuse and regardless of how long ago it happened, please come forward and report it. Just as the CPS and the police have worked closely together in this case, we will continue to do everything we can as a partnership to bring people who have committed these vile offences to justice.” Judge Herbert thanked the jury and reaffirmed his faith in the ‘effectiveness’ of the jury system. “It would be wrong for someone like me to make factual decisions on cases like these.”