A FORMER housemaster at a prestigious private school has been jailed for 10 years for sexually abusing pupils.

David Lowe, 61, crept into schoolboys' dormitories and intimately touched them while carrying out night-time checks and took victims to buy sweets after abusing them.

Southwark Crown Court heard the attacks, which took place between 1978 and 1984, were carried out against ten eight to 13-year-old boys at Ampleforth College, near Thirsk, and Westminster Cathedral Choir School.

Sentencing Lowe today, Judge Martin Beddoe told him: "All these boys were to some degree emotionally and physically vulnerable - some were more so than others. You took advantage of that and made it all the worse by what you did.

"What you did has remained more or less a secret for the best part of 35 years until now.

"But for the courage of all 10 complainants, in particular those most affected, a secret it would have remained."

A jury found Lowe, of Bristol, guilty of 15 counts of indecent assault on a boy under the age of 14 following a trial last month.

Lowe, dressed in a black jacket and open-collar shirt, bowed his head in the dock throughout today's hearing and showed no emotion as his sentence was delivered.

His wife and son were in the public gallery along with most of the retired teacher's victims, many of whom were supported by their wives and partners.

Judge Beddoe said victims were left "ashamed and embarrassed" by Lowe's "selfish sexual acts", which had "sullied" the reputations of two institutions.

Many of the victims felt Lowe had "violated them all over again" by denying the offences and taking them to trial.

One victim recalled Lowe inviting him to his room at Ampleforth College and asking him to remove his trousers and lie across his lap.

The man told the trial: "He called me upstairs, and I remember thinking 'Here we go again, I am going to get some more of this'."

In mitigation, Sarah Elliott QC said father-of-five Lowe "removed himself from temptation" by no longer working with boys under 13 after he left Ampleforth College.

"The majority of the allegations involved offences carried out in a gentle manner without particular force," she said.

"Mr Lowe bears the burden that he has brought such misery and shame to his family."

Following the hearing, Detective Sergeant Kirstie Martin, of the Met Police, said: "David Lowe was a well-respected and talented teacher.

"He transpired to be a persistent offender who committed his crimes over a prolonged period. He used young boys, who were often staying away from the security of their own home, to his own advantage."