A bad reputation

In 2003, a woman contacted police alleging that the Greig City Academy teacher Elwyn Durant had indecently assaulted her in 1986 when she was a child.

The following year, in September, the 52-year-old man from Hillfield Avenue, Hornsey, was found with more than 123,000 pornographic images of children on his home computer and arrested. He subsequently resigned from the school in High Street, Hornsey, where he had taught science for at least 27 years.

Detective Sergeant Neil Coleman, of Haringey police's child protection team was one of the arresting officers who searched Durant's home and uncovered the computer images and indecent photographs.

He said: "There was no evidence to suggest he had abused any other children."

But he added that police analysis of the massive amount of indecent photos which included extremely serious images meant that the trial came two years after the arrest.

A former student of Durant's, who does not wish to be named, said that during his time at the school from 1977 to 1983, the teacher who also acted as a form tutor had often acted in a manner that was inappropriate for a teacher.

He said: "He had a bad reputation for doing perverted things for many, many years.

"He taught human biology, biology and general sciences, and took pupils on field trips and residential study courses.

"I can recall a lesson on human biology where he asked a girl to stand at the front and he, with a ruler, demonstrated that when people reach puberty their breasts grow and pointed at her breasts with the ruler.

He then asked a boy to stand up at the front and he showed his facial hair in a similar way.

"We were also shown the usual facts of life videos, which obviously at that age produced a lot of giggles, but it is interesting to note that Mr Durant was the teacher who used to give these type of lessons."

Durant's trial began in January, in the wake of revelations that a number of paedophile had been employed in schools in England, despite being convicted of previous offences.

The Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) was set up as a result of the Police Act 1997, and was designed to replace the previous vetting system, where employers of teachers would check new employees against the Department for Education's list of people deemed unsuitable to work with children known as List 99 while police checked for a criminal record. As this proved time-consuming, employees who had been cleared by List 99 were permitted to start work while waiting for the result of the police check.

The CRB was designed to bring these processes together, creating a one-stop' vetting shop. Earlier this year the Home Office made it illegal to employ teachers without the necessary checks being fully completed.

As Durant had been working at the school for such a long period of time, he would have undergone the previous vetting system, but would have been able to skip the new one.

However, even if Durant had been vetted under the new system, it would have shown that he had no previous convictions and would have thus been allowed to work. A spokesman for the Department of Education and Skills (DfES) said: "Headteachers need to know who they're employing; that they are who they say they are; have the relevant qualifications and will not endanger the children.

"If somebody's never been convicted of crime, there's nothing really they can do.

"Schools can if they have a concern or parents raise concerns about an individual ask for a CRB check to be done on them.

"But it's totally up to the individual school if they wanted to do that."

A Haringey Council spokeswoman said: "Staff in Haringey schools undergo checks in line with DfES guidance. Any allegations against staff are investigated thoroughly in line with DfES guidance and London Child Protection procedures."

Mr Durant was sentenced on May 24, on 15 charges relating to the possession of indecent images. He was jailed for three years for making and possessing indecent photographs, and also received shorter sentences to run concurrently for the possession of indecent images. These include a two-year sentence for two counts of possessing indecent photographs. He was also put on the sex offenders' register, and discharged from a charge of indecent assault becasue it had happened 20 years earlier, but was told it will lie on file.

During the case, the defence had tried to imply that Durant was suffering from Asperger's Syndrome a form of autism, which affects the way a person communicates and relates to others even though it had not been diagnosed.

It added that there were never any complaints against Durant during his time as a teacher.

Greig City Academy declined to comment on the case.