Colet Court Teacher Gets Suspended Sentence


Anthony Fuggle had 2,000 indecent images of children on his computer

A teacher who stored over 2,000 indecent images of children on his computer has been sentenced to four months imprisonment, suspended for two years at Kingston Crown Court

Anthony Fuggle, aged 58, of Sandy Lane, Sutton, taught classics at Colet Court in Barnes.

Fuggle was arrested in September 2013 when concerns were raised by the school over internet activity on his work computer.

The school reported the matter to the police and officers arrested him at the school on 10 September 2013.

The case was referred to the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command (SOECA), and formed part of Operation Winthorpe - an investigation into a number of allegations of non-recent sexual abuse alleged to have taken place in the Barnes area.

Detectives seized Fuggle's work computer and a computer from his home. On his home computer they seized a number of indecent images of children aged between 12 and 16 years old.

Fuggle was convicted of 10 counts of making indecent photographs of children and five counts of possessing indecent photographs of children.

He was given a community order, a supervision order, sexual offences prevention order and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for seven years. He was also ordered to pay £1,200 costs.

The investigating officer, DC Ben Lamkin, of SOECA said, "It's important to remember that the children in the pictures have been exploited and abused for the gratification of Fuggle and others like him."

Operation Winthorpe is an investigation by the Metropolitan Police Service's Paedophile Unit into a number of allegations of non-recent sexual abuse alleged to have taken place at St. Paul's and Colet Court. Fuggle was the first of six people to be arrested by the unit. Further cases resulting from the investigation are to be held in the coming months.

Anyone who has any information in relation to this matter is encouraged to contact the investigation team via opwinthorpe@met.pnn.police.uk or 020 7161 0500, alternatively via the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or e-mail help@nspcc.org.uk.

June 6, 2015