Norfolk: Ex-Teacher Admits Child Sex Offences

5 August 2013, 14:35 | Updated: 5 August 2013, 18:21

A former teacher's been jailed for fourteen years after he admitted 18 sex offences against boys in Norfolk after more than a decade on the run.

Mervyn Rush, 68, was extradited back to the UK from France in April after being held under a European arrest warrant on suspicion of sex offences against children in Norfolk in the 1970s.

He disappeared while awaiting trial in 2000.

Today Rush, formerly of Dorking, Surrey, admitted 18 charges against boys aged under 16 at Norwich Crown Court. The offences took place between 1973 and 1977 and involved 12 different victims aged as young as nine.

At the time of the offences, Rush worked at a school in Norfolk, which cannot be identified for legal reasons.

Prosecutor Stephen Spence said: "He failed to attend court in 2000, deliberately kept himself at large for a number of years and contested extradition.''

Rush denied 24 further charges which will not be proceeded with.