Former Assistant Head Teacher Jailed

24 February 2011, 16:30 | Updated: 7 March 2011, 17:24

A former assistant head teacher at Dorothy Stringer School in Hove has been jailed for 10 months after pleading guilty to a string of internet-related sex offences against children.

Kenneth Browne, 60, now of South Row, London, SE3, was sentenced at Hove Crown Court today, Thursday 24 February, having pleaded guilty at a hearing last month to six charges of possessing and six charges of making indecent images of children.

He was arrested at his then home address in Havelock Road, Brighton on 29 July 2009 by officers from the Sussex Police Paedophile On Line Investigation Team (POLIT) who were acting on information received. They executed a search warrant and seized computer equipment.

At the time of his arrest Browne was an Assistant Head Teacher at Dorothy Stringer School in Hove, and had been living in Brighton, but was dismissed soon afterwards and moved away from the area.

The charges were entirely Internet based and related to images of young girls in the 10 to 13 age range. They did not involve any physical assaults on or contact with children, and did not involve any children at the school.

Browne was also served with an indefinite Sexual Offence Prevention Order (SOPO), required to sign the Sex Offenders Register for a ten year period, and banned for life from working with children.

Detective Inspector Ali Eaton says;

"This was a complex and detailed investigation and the result reflects the seriousness of the offences. Although the majority of the images were not of the most extreme type, it must be understood that every such image represents child abuse. We will continue to follow up all such reports and prosecute whenever the evidence can be obtained."