Ex-teacher jailed for sex offences against pupils

The ex-headmaster of a long-closed West Sussex school has been sentenced to a total of eleven years imprisonment for a series of sex offences against boy pupils there and in Berkshire.

Frank Skipwith, 81, now of Eynsham, Oxfordshire, was convicted on 15 December 2021 at Hove Crown Court, after an eight day re-trial, of indecent assault against two boys under 14 at Fernden preparatory school near Midhurst, between 1981 and 1985.

He was also convicted of three counts of indecent assaults on a boy pupil under 14 in 1993 at Crosfields School in Reading where he was Head Teacher at that time.

He was sentenced at Hove Crown Court on Monday 31 January.

Skipwith had first been convicted on 13 March 2020 at Lewes Crown Court after a seven-week trial, of 17 indecent assaults against ten boys then between eight and 14-years-old at Fernden between 1981 and 1985.

The jury in that trial failed to agree on verdicts in relation to charges involving the two other boys at Fernden, of which he has now been convicted after the re-trial, as well as being convicted of the further charges of offences at Crosfields Schools in 1994.

He will be a registered sex offender for life.

The prosecutions, authorised by the CPS, followed an investigation by detectives from the Sussex Police Complex Abuse Unit.

Detective Constable Chris Smith said; "As headmaster, Skipwith was responsible for the welfare of the children at Fernden. He appeared to be a devoted family man, kindly and charming, and lived in a flat next to the dormitories with his wife and three sons who were among the 100 pupils at the school at one time and another.
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"However from the evidence we gathered from his victims, it was clear that he abused his position of trust and authority for his own sexual gratification over many years.

"He would regularly enter dormitories at night and assaults boys in their beds, under guise of comforting them. In some cases he had disciplined and even beaten boys first, often for dubious reasons, then adopting a sudden forgiving approach which they naturally welcomed.

"But his victims kept these distressing secrets largely to themselves, though occasionally confiding in family members, until two of them came forward and contacted us quite independently during 2017. Our enquiries then traced the others.

His equally distressing offences against the boy at Crosfields were only reported in 2020, when the victim saw media reporting of the first trial.

"All the victims supported our investigation throughout and attended Court to give their evidence, which was rigorously tested by cross-examination on behalf of Skipwith.

"We will always take seriously and follow up such reports, no matter how long ago the events are said to have occurred, to seek justice for victims wherever possible."

For information and guidance on reporting offences against children see the Sussex Police website.