A TEACHER who acted as a “malign puppet master” in persuading people to abuse their own children, could have instigated hundreds of incidents of child sexual abuse.

Richard Clark, of Topcliffe Road, Sowerby, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to 26 offences and asked for 54 others to be taken into consideration when he appeared at York Crown Court yesterday.

Using fake digital accounts, he contacted people on Skype in the UK, the United States and Nepal and incited people to take sexual images or abuse their siblings, children or grandchildren and record it for his own gratification.

In one case he contacted a 15-year-old boy and encouraged him to carry out sexual acts on his cousins, aged one and two.

The 29-year-old teacher pleaded guilty to charges including ten offences of arranging or facilitating child sex offences and 12 counts of inciting or causing indecent images of children. 

After trawling through the material on Clark’s electronic devices, North Yorkshire Police identified 41 children who had been abused in this way in the UK and 17 children have so far been removed from their homes or safe-guarded as a result.

The scale of his offending was so vast that police had to issue 79 Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) packages to other police forces nationally and internationally – 44 in the UK and 35 overseas - to alert them to the child victims and abusers who appeared in the videos and photographs.

It is thought there could potentially be hundreds more victims.

The court heard on Tuesday that investigators may end up creating 500 CEOP packages from the material they have found, which is still being analysed.

He also tricked boys at a school into taking indecent images or video of themselves, whilst using fake social media accounts in which he posed as teenage girls they knew, or under other false identities. 

The court heard on Monday a witness statement from a parent of one his victims, in which she said he had “robbed them of their youth” and left them unable to trust male teachers.

Another statement from the headteacher of the school where he targeted pupils said the school had employed school nurses, psychologists and counsellors to deal with the impact of Clark’s actions on students and teachers, but he feared some students would never recover from their ordeal.

Others were likely to miss out on opportunities to go to high-ranking universities because of the emotional and mental ordeal they experienced prior to their exams.

Clark also pleaded guilty to three of possession of indecent photographs of a child and one of possession of an extreme pornographic image.

On Tuesday morning, Judge Andrew Stubbs QC told Clark: "These offences reveal you to be manipulating others to abuse children like some kind of malign puppet master.

"You incited offences of familial or incestuous abuse against children. These activities have been traced worldwide."

Judge Stubbs said his crimes revealed him to be a "persistent predator", whose victims felt traped by fear of exposure. He added: "The victim statements which have been referred to in court shows how you have robbed your victims of confidence, charater and potential life chances." 

He handed him a sentence of 12 years, to spend a further eight years on licence. He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which he will remain on for the rest of his life.

In a statement released after the court case, DCI Jim Glass, the Senior Investigating Officer in the case, said: “This has been an extremely complex and challenging case, throughout which the identification and safeguarding of Richard Clark’s victims has been a priority.

“Working with a number of partners including the Children’s Safeguarding Board, North Yorkshire County Council, Health and Social Care and the Crown Prosecution Service, we have ensured the best possible support for all those affected throughout this case.

“Clark abused his position of trust as a teacher, committing offences against pupils at the school he taught at as well as instigating offences nationally and internationally against children by use of the internet to hide his true identity.

“The inquiry continues to send out intelligence to other police forces and law enforcement agencies around the world in relation to additional victims and offenders’ details which have been identified.

 “I would like to remind parents and carers of the need to ensure children are safe online. 

"Please talk to them about the dangers and the importance of only talking to those they absolutely know are genuine, and to not do anything online that could threaten their safety, specifically as in this case, not to send sexual images of themselves."

North Yorkshire Police say they have information and advice about online safety, at; northyorkshire.police.uk/staying-safe/safer-online/parents-carers. 

The NSPCC also has information on online safety at; getsafeonline.org.