A FORMER language teacher and football coach is behind bars after admitting a series of non-recent sex offences.

Martin Fisher, 63, who taught for two decades at Scarborough Sixth Form College, was jailed for three years by a judge at York Crown Court

He had pleaded guilty to three charges of indecent assault on a man over 16 from the 1980s until 2001 and seven charges of making indecent images of children.

The court heard Fisher groomed his victims by inviting them to his home where he supplied them with alcohol, hosted parties, allowed them to use his car and showed them pornographic videos.

Some of the victims were invited to stay over where Fisher went on to sexually abuse them under the pretence of physiotherapy and massages.

Detective Constable Alison Morris said after the hearing: “At the time of the offences, Martin Fisher was in a position of trust and he abused that trust for his own sexual gratification.He made them feel beholden to him and unable to report the abuse that was taking place.

“His victims have showed great courage in coming forward and reporting the abuse. Thankfully he has spared them the ordeal of giving evidence in court by pleading guilty to the charges and I now hope the outcome of this case allows them to put a distressing period of their lives behind them.”

Speaking about the indecent images, she added: “Behind every horrendous image is a child that has been sexually abused. By downloading these sickening images, offenders are fuelling the demand for them. Child abuse is everyone’s business and anyone who suspects a person of downloading such images should report it to the police.”

Fisher was also issued with a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the sex offenders register for life.