Paedophile teacher behind bars

A teacher who raped a girl from the age of five and took indecent photographs of pupils has been jailed.

Paedophile Neil Challis sat expressionless in the dock at Derby Crown Court as a judge gave him an indeterminate sentence and told him to serve a minimum of seven years behind bars.

The 35-year-old from Chester Green, Derby, was arrested in January after his eight-year-old rape victim, who was not one of his pupils, told her parents.

Police searched his home and found hundreds of indecent images of young girls on his computer, some in the very worst "grade five" category. A number of the images were of his sex attacks.

Challis, who taught at 13 schools across Derbyshire, had used a camera to secretly take pictures up the skirts of some of the pupils he taught, the court heard.

After his arrest, he admitted six charges of rape and four charges of indecent assault of a child.

He also pleaded guilty to charges of taking indecent pictures of a child and the possession of 1,000 indecent images of a child.

Judge Rosalind Bush told him: "The offences that you have committed and for which I am about to sentence you were despicable, particularly in relation to the young rape victim.

"You made sure that you got yourself into such a position of trust with her family where she was available to you at all times, whenever you wanted sexual gratification.

"There was nowhere in her life where she was safe from you. You were everywhere and abusing her everywhere, in her home, in your home.

"There was nowhere she was safe from you. There was no refuge. You corrupted everything in her life and when you started she was only five years old."

Judge Bush added: "You were friends with and were trusted by her family and you manipulated that trust to allow you full access to her so you could abuse her.

"There's no excuse nor explanation for what you did that will ever be acceptable to her or her family."

Giving him an indeterminate sentence for the public protection, she added: "I find that there's a significant risk to members of the public of serious harm caused by you, of committing such offences in the future."

If or when he is released, Challis will be on licence indefinitely and he is banned from working with children for life.

After the hearing, the family of the rape victim said they were "satisfied" with the sentence.

Her father said: "He didn't show any remorse. He's a despicable creature."

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