History teacher at £45k-a-year boarding school who sexually assaulted pupil and harboured indecent images of children avoids prison
A history teacher at a £45,000-a-year boarding school who sexually assaulted a student and had a dark secret of possessing images of children has avoided jail.
A history teacher at a £45,000-a-year boarding school who sexually assaulted a student and had a dark secret of possessing images of children has avoided jail.
Nick Baldock, who lived and worked at the exclusive Lancing College in West Sussex for five years, admitted touching a students bottom at an event in July 2022.
When the 46-year-old was arrested, his devices were seized by officers who found he had indecent images of children, not from the school, and shared non-indecent images of students at the college making sexualised comments about them.
The court heard that the history teacher told the group chat every day is agony about his position at the school and boasted about seeing students in their underwear.
He also shared their Snapchat details with a man on Whatsapp, inviting him to add them and communicate with them, the court heard.
Nick Baldock admitted sexually assaulting a student at the exclusive Lancing College in West Sussex.
The disgraced teacher pictured outside Crawley Magistrates Court where he pleaded guilty to touching a students bottom at an event in July 2022
Baldock, a Catholic, held his prayer beads as he sat in the dock and was supported by family in court as he was sentenced to 12 months suspended for two years and a sexual harm prevention order for eight years.
During his sentencing on Thursday, Judge David Rennie said: Parents have ultimate responsibility for loving their children and keeping them safe from harm.
Teachers have a similar burden of responsibility.
You shattered that trust as you placed your own sexual gratification over that.
You are or should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself.
Baldock previously pleaded guilty to sexual assault, two counts of publishing an obscene article, three counts of knowingly disclosing personal data without consent and three counts of making indecent images of children.
Defending Baldock, barrister John Hunter said he was a troubled soul who devoted himself to his job and had no life outside of school.
He said he was of genuine remorse and was undergoing counselling to deal with the demons within.
Baldock (pictured) lived at worked at the exclusive Lancing College for five years
Judge Rennie added: You are drawn to images of children being sexually abused; these are not victimless crimes you are watching young people being traumatised and they must try and cope the rest of their lives, those images will always be out there.
One referee refers to you holding a deep religious faith, what a strange way to show it.
Following the sentencing, Sussex Police Detective Sergeant Paul Hitchcock said Baldocks offending was a betrayal of his responsibility and he also showed callous disregard for the child victims who appeared in the indecent photos.
He said: Thanks to the victim of the initial sexual assault, and the support of Lancing College, we were able to uncover the scale of Baldocks offending and bring him to justice.
The sexual harm prevention order severely limits Baldocks ability to harm other young people, and I hope provides some measure of comfort for his victims.
In his LinkedIn profile, Baldock says he studied at Yale University from 2003 to 2009 after getting a history degree from the University of Cambridge.
His profile describes how he studied many and varied periods of history and quietly despaired of academia before producing the discursive, over-written but nonetheless interesting dissertation entitled The Religious Imagination in British Popular Fiction and Society, 1900-1945.
A general view of the entrance to Lancet College in West Sussex where Baldock was a history teacher
He also claims to have studied at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy before returning to the UK where he also taught history at King Edwards School in Birmingham for six months in 2016.
Baldock was also an actor with Madcap Theatre Productions in 2013.
Lancing College, where fees are £15,590 a term for full boarding, is made up of several imposing buildings which are a major landmark on the South Downs.
Notable former pupils include lyricist Sir Tim Rice, novelist Evelyn Waugh and Brighton and Hove Albion FC chairman Tony Bloom.
Disgraced paedophile bishop Peter Ball was also a pupil, but his offending against 18 teenagers and young men were not linked to the school.
