January 2007
Ex-head jailed for attacks on pupils
A former headteacher has been jailed for indecently assaulting pupils during “corporal punishment” sessions more than 35 years ago.
Leicester Crown Court heard Michael Cotsell carried out the attacks on four boys when supposedly disciplining them in his school study.
Cotsell pleaded guilty to eight offences of indecent assault against the youngsters, all aged under 14, between 1966 and 1971.
The 68-year-old, now of Sussex, had originally denied the charges but pleaded guilty last year on the day he had been due to stand trial.
On Monday, Judge Christopher Plunkett, jailing him for 18 months, said even his age could not save him from a custodial sentence.
He told him: “I accept that sending you to prison will cause you personal hardship, as it would anyone of your age and background.
“I also accept you have led a blameless life for the past 35 years.
“But the community has to see this sort of behaviour will result in prison.”
Cotsell was the head of Knossington Grange Preparatory School, a private boarding school that is believed to have closed in the 1970s.
His offending did not emerge until one of the boys came forward in 2003, with a subsequent police inquiry revealing other victims.
Leicester Crown Court heard one boy was made to strip and lie across Cotsell’s knee while being spanked and indecently touched.
Another pupil told police how Cotsell regularly touched him in a sexual way while caning him when he was between the ages of nine and 11.
A third said Cotsell would “cuddle” him after canings, while youngsters also complained he would feel inside their shorts during sport lessons.
Christopher Kessling, prosecuting, said one of the victims was left questioning his own sexuality and still suffered flashbacks to the incidents.
Michael Harrison, defending, said Cotsell, of Polegate, East Sussex, who had no previous convictions, stopped teaching in 1971.
He added that he was overworked at the time and later had a nervous breakdown, after which he never had anything to do with children again.
