PE assistant posed as girl to con young boys into sex acts

CricKet club

A teaching assistant who posed as a girl and tricked youngsters into performing sex acts online has been jailed for two years.

Robert Iles, of Magpie Hall Road, Stubbs Cross, left his sports position at Great Chart Primary School after being arrested in April last year.

His barrister, Paul Hogben, told Canterbury Crown Court that Iles was “younger than his years” and would be bullied in prison.

But the judge told the 23-year-old to “find a backbone” inside jail and stand up to the bullies.

Mr Hogben said Iles – who was also a member of Kennington Cricket Club – had been planning a career teaching sports but that now lay in ruins.

Mr Hogben pleaded for “a last chance” and asked that the jail sentence be suspended so he could “confront the behavioural problems which underpin these offences”.

He added: “Because he is a vulnerable person and, as he says, because of the way he looks, people can tell he is easy prey inside jail.

“He is still very young and this is the crisis of his life. He has lost his career as he hoped to have life in sports and that is now at an end forever.”

The court had heard how Iles had contacted two 12-year-olds and a 15-yearold via his webcam posing as a girl.

But Judge J a me s O’Mahony told Iles, who admitted three sex offences: “I acknowledge the problems you have had and that you have been bullied badly at school and I know that would be miserable.

“I am sorry for that, especially being bullied at school, but the other side of the coin is the fact that you were in a position of trust as a teaching sports assistant.

“And this wasn’t a momentary and isolated offence because you set up a deceptive plan, a contrived identity seeking to trap boys who were wanting pictures of girls.”

The judge said he then got sexual gratification by get- ting the youngsters to perform via the webcam.

Iles, who was also given a 10-year sex offences prevention order, was jailed for two years.

The judge told him: “I am very sorry but you must serve the sentence and I hope you get some backbone and stick up for yourself and make sure you are not bullied.” Kennington Cricket Club, where Iles was once a member, released a statement to parents and other members, reiterating that children’s safety is their highest priority.

Club president and welfare officer Peter Grant said: “At no stage were Robert’s activities at the club part of the police investigation.

“We would like to reassure you that the club’s rigorous child protection procedures were put into operation throughout the police investigation into this case and we also worked in close liaison with the safeguarding team at the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

“Kennington Cricket Club regard the safeguarding of children as its highest possible priority and our child protection processes go beyond even those recommended by the ECB.

“For example, we have two fully qualified club welfare officers rather than one, one of whom, myself, is a former deputy chief executive of the Parole Board of England and Wales, and the other being John Cunningham, who has two young children in our junior section.

“Together with the ECB we have reviewed our procedures and are satisfied that these meet the most exacting standards.”

Robert Iles, 23, has been jailed for two years