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Former Belfast Grammar Teacher Jailed for 1970s Sex Assaults on Pupils

Police said the case shows abusers can still face justice decades later.

Overview

  • William Lloyd-Lavery, 77, was taken into custody after a Belfast Crown Court judge on Tuesday imposed a two-year prison term and a 10-year order on the Sex Offenders Register.
  • The abuse took place between 1975 and 1979 at Richmond Lodge College, where four girls aged 13 and 14 were assaulted in school areas including a corridor, a stationery cupboard, and a storeroom.
  • A jury in January found him guilty of six counts of indecent assault against four former pupils, while two charges were not proven and several others were withdrawn on legal grounds.
  • Judge Patrick Lynch called it a grave breach of trust and praised the women for coming forward, and victims described lasting harm in statements read in court.
  • Lloyd-Lavery has denied the offences throughout, and police urged other survivors of non-recent abuse to report, noting an average of 76 such referrals each month across Northern Ireland.