Former deputy headteacher of primary school paid £65K for the abuse of children in India

A former deputy head teacher of a primary school has pleaded guilty to paying £65,000 for teenagers in India to abuse younger children and send him the images.

Matthew Smith, 34, from East Dulwich, was arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in November 2022, after investigators identified that he was sharing child abuse material on the dark web.

Smith, who was deputy headteacher at Thomas’s prep school in Battersea High Street, pleaded guilty to five charges days after his arrest, including causing the sexual exploitation and abuse of a child under 13 and distributing indecent images of children.

He appeared at Southwark Crown Court today where he pleaded guilty to 17 additional charges, including encouraging the rape of a child under 13, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and arranging the sexual abuse of a child.

Smith was online at the time of his arrest, speaking to a teenage boy living in India and asking him to send sexual images of a younger child, in return for money.

He also had dark web sites and forums open on his computer which were dedicated to child sexual abuse.

NCA investigators were able to establish that Smith had paid that same teenager, and another also based in India, £65,398 to abuse children over a five-year period.

Smith was living in Nepal and working at a school for the majority of this time. Prior to this, he spent various periods working in orphanages and NGOs across India between 2007-2014.

He moved back to the UK in July 2022 and began working at Thomas’s prep school in September that year.

The chat logs showed that Smith would instruct the young men to perform sexual acts on boys and would send them images and videos as examples of ones he would like to receive in return.

He also gave one of them advice on how befriend children and build their trust with a view to abusing them.

Investigators found evidence of potential offending by Smith against children while he was working in India and information has been shared with relevant law enforcement partners.

There is no evidence to suggest he committed offences against children based in Nepal or the UK.

Officers recovered more than 120,000 indecent images of children (IIOC) which Smith had saved on a laptop, SD card and on his phone.

Helen Dore, Senior Officer of the NCA, said: “Matthew Smith was a high risk individual and we moved quickly to locate, arrest and remand him so he could no longer pose a threat to children.

“Ultimately, we were able to prove that he was a prolific offender who manipulated young men to sexually abuse children on his behalf, giving them detailed instructions and financial reward.

“While conducting his offending, Smith worked at a school in Nepal, then became a deputy head teacher and head of pastoral care in the UK, so his offending is a deep betrayal of the trust placed in him.

“The NCA is dedicated to operating online and overseas, working with global partners to ensure that children are safeguarded and offenders like Smith are brought to justice.”