A Head of Maths took an indecent video of himself in a toilet at his school and sent it to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl.
Khaled Miah, 40, believed he was communicating with a girl called Daisy, but in fact he was caught in a police sting.
Miah, who had been a teacher for more that 18 years, was released under investigation and was caught grooming a second fictitious girl set up by officers, a 12-year-old called Zoe.
On Monday, July 13, 2020, Miah, of Belswains Lane, Hemel Hempstead, was sentenced to 16 months in prison when he appeared at Luton crown court.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to two charges of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act, four of attempting to engage a child in sexual communication and two of possessing Category C child sex abuse images.
Prosecutor Nadia Chbat said Miah was Head of Maths at the High School in Luton when he began chatting to “Daisy” on WhatsApp in November last year.
She said he told her he was a teacher and was marking.
She sent the married father a picture he described her as “more than cute.”
He asked the girl explicit questions and graphically explained sexual acts.
Miah sent her explicit pictures of himself in the bath and on one occasion locked himself in a staff toilet at the school where he videoed himself performing a sex act.
He sent that to ‘Daisy’ and also told her they could have sex on his desk at the school.
Ms Chbat said when the police arrived at the school on 21 November last year he told them he knew what it was about. He was initially bailed and then released under investigation in February this year.
He was warned an investigation was continuing. Despite this, he was in contact with “12 year old Zoe” on ‘Chatiw’ telling her: “I am a bit horny and looking for someone to play with.”
He told her she had lovely legs and said he was going to have fun in the shower.
Miah, who is getting divorced, told the police he was going through stresses at the time in his marriage and had mental health issues. He said he felt lonely and found comfort in speaking to people.
He denied having any sexual attraction to children, but said he felt stupid and could not justify his behaviour.
When the police examined his iCloud one drive, they found two indecent images of a 13 to a 15 year old girl posing in a mirror. Miah maintained she was 18. The former teacher, who represented himself, told the judge: “I was going through troubling times. I had difficulties in my marriage.
“Work was getting stressful. I had unobtainable targets.” He went on: “I do not have any interest in children. I have to admit to very poor judgement and self control.” He said that in 2018 he had been diagnosed with depression and anxiety.
Judge Barbara Mensah jailed him, saying: “Just because a child is fictional you are still culpable. You clearly had an interest in young girls. “You indicated to them you were a teacher and you were prepared to abuse the trust of young people. There was clearly grooming in both cases.
“You have let down your family, community and your school.”
He must also sign the sex offender register and abide by the terms of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.
Paul Baddeley, from the Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: “As someone who taught children the same age as he believed the girls he was talking to were, this would suggest that their young age wasn’t going to stand in the way of his own sexual gratification.
“Online grooming and child sex offences is becoming more and more of a threat, especially now that children have more access to the online world, and we have a dedicated team within Bedfordshire Police who work hard to tackle this.
“We have seen the way that offenders target young children online, groom them and then try and arrange to meet their victims in real life. Thankfully this wasn’t the case, but just because this happened online, it doesn’t make it any less of a crime.
“Any child can become the victim of grooming, no matter what their gender, ethnicity or background. If you think that this might be happening to you or someone you know then it’s important you speak out and tell someone you trust.”
