Prince George and Princess Charlotte's first school, Thomas's Battersea, had a deputy pastoral head – Matthew Smith – who pleaded guilty to child exploitation offences. Reportedly, Smith was only recently employed by the school.
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Child abuse
Matthew Smith appeared in Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday. He was accused of child sexual abuse as he made and distributed indecent images of children, reported MailOnline. Smith was recruited in September and the school was only informed about his ongoing investigation by the National Crime Agency on November 7.
According to an email sent by the school to worried parents, his employment was immediately terminated in the wake of the guilty plea. The Southwark resident pleaded guilty to ‘distributing indecent images of children and inciting the sexual exploitation of children’ outside the UK.
None of these images or charges relates to the pupils of the prestigious school that is Thomas’s Battersea. Prince George and Princess Charlotte attended the £20,000 per year school up until early this year before shifting to Lambrook School, near Ascot. As such, they had left the school months before Smith was recruited.
Smith’s history
Before being appointed as the deputy pastoral head at Thomas's Battersea was assistant head teacher for five years at the British School in Kathmandu, Nepal. He also briefly taught at St Paul's School. The accused has reputable degrees from universities like Oxford and Cambridge.
Considering their fault in recruiting an individual like Smith, the school also issued a statement that read:
I do not for a minute underestimate the shocking and deeply concerning nature of this news. Our focus right now is on our pupils, parents and colleagues.
The school doesn’t want to ‘elaborate further’ on the details of Smith’s departure to the pupils. Fortunately, since he was employed less than two months ago, not many parents or pupils had interacted with him. The school also added:
If you are unsure of what to say to your child, and would like further guidance, please do not hesitate to contact any of the following members of our leadership team.
Meanwhile, furious parents had smashed the front door of Smith’s £1million Southwark property.
Source Used
Daily Mail: Teacher at Prince George's old school pleads GUILTY to child sex crimes
