Convicted paedophile Grahame Brennand has today been sentenced to 19 years imprisonment at Preston Crown Court.
Despite denying the allegations throughout both trials, the former teacher and deputy head of St John’s Church of England Primary School in Baxenden, East Lancashire, was found guilty of over 40 sexual assault offences and child cruelty offences during two separate trials this year.
In an article published by Lancashire Constabulary on 28th September 2018, it was reported that the actual number of offences committed by Brennand was close to 200 as many of the counts included multiple assaults.
All of Brennand’s victims were abused in the 1970’s and 80’s and were aged between 7 and 11 years at the time, many bravely attended court to give evidence against him.
One female victim described how she was abused on an ‘almost daily’ basis with others telling the court that they were required to sit on Brennand’s knee and that he would kiss and hug them. He was indiscriminate in his offending, frequently committing acts of a sexual nature against girls and cruelty offences against boys in his class. The court heard how he would clip them round the ear, slap them on the backs of their legs or throw them across the classroom and the majority of the students were fearful of his disciplinarian and domineering manner.
During evidence, the jury were told how the former teacher set up a First Aid club which consisted of only girls, aged 10 & 11 years. Prosecutor Robert Golinski described the first aid lessons as a ‘convenient excuse’ to get girls in a position to touch them sexually and added that Brennand had committed child abuse on a ‘significant scale’.
From the evidence, it is clear that Brennand used any opportunity that he could to commit offences against his vulnerable victims and the jury was told that the sexual touching occurred not only in the school classroom but also in a school storeroom, during swimming lessons at the local swimming pool and even on a canal boat. It became apparent that the abuse was often blatant and went largely unchallenged.
His victims and their families, police officers, legal representatives of Brennand’s many victims, including myself, attended Preston Crown Court today to hear the sentence as it was handed down.
I act for several Clients who have suffered greatly as a result of the criminal actions of Grahame Brennand who abused his position of trust as a teacher when he was expected to care for his pupils.
Our Abuse Team have substantial experience in dealing with these types of cases. We are a Lancashire law firm and part of the legal aid franchise in respect of abuse claims. We appreciate that it can be very difficult to talk about what happened and we strive to ensure that all enquiries are dealt with sensitivity and in the strictest confidence. Call our specialist Abuse Line on 0330 134 6430 or email me at paul.corrigan@farleys.com.
