Overview
- Gilkes, 47, was sentenced Friday at Preston Crown Court to 16 years in prison with a further five-year licence and an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order after pleading guilty to 42 offences.
- Police and prosecutors say searches of his home and workplace found more than 80 devices holding over 5,000 indecent images and videos of children, though some outlets reported unverified totals of over a million.
- Many images were of his pupils and were taken under clothing using hidden cameras such as spy pens and tiny cube devices, with one device being school‑issued.
- Evidence showed he posed online as two teenage boys and as a 29-year-old woman to groom girls under 16 into sexualised chats and image sharing.
- The case began after children saw a phone slid under a leisure‑centre cubicle on August 1, 2024, leading police to trace his car on CCTV and arrest him on August 14.