Sex predator teacher jailed for life

Andrew Kingsley, known as Olly, pestered youngsters in their early teens for sex and confessed to a fetish for bondage, saying he had handcuffs, rope and a blindfold.

As well as grooming boys he targeted over the internet, Kingsley, 23, even propositioned pupils at the school in Fife where he worked.

After he was led to the cells at the High Court in Edinburgh, a 58-year-old father who exposed Kingsley's activities after finding messages on his 12-year-old son's mobile phone said he was "delighted" with the result.

The judge Lord Pentland told "devious" Kingsley he had been guilty of a two-year predatory campaign of sexual exploitation of children.

He ordered Kingsley to serve at least five years before he can apply for parole.

"I stress this is only the minimum," Lord Pentland said, and warned Kingsley he would be monitored for the rest of his life.

Kingsley also faces an order preventing him working with children again.

The judge told him: "You are a talented man. You could have put your abilities to good use. You regrettably chose instead to use them to abuse children."

The 12-year-old's father said: "He will never get a job with kids again so that is great."

He added: "I am trying to forgive the guy. I will pray for him."

He told how Kingsley had been able to fool victims' families for so long. "There is a cunning side to him, very cunning, the way he did it. He is a very polite guy."

He said he had checked thoroughly before allowing his son to take part in activities organised by the music teacher. "Then I came across the texts on the mobile phone and that was it. I couldn't believe what I had seen."

The father said he could hardly lift the phone to call police, but was glad he had gone through with it because it might have saved some other child.

First-offender Kingsley pleaded guilty to a total of 31 charges alleging a variety of homosexual acts and the making and possession of indecent photos and using internet chat rooms to groom youngsters for sex.

A total of 16 youngsters in Scotland and England were involved.

Kingsley committed a serious sexual offence with one 15-year-old, watched on a webcam as he persuaded others to expose themselves, and engaged in oral sex with two boys.

He tried to meet others for sex, but they failed to show up at meetings Kingsley had arranged.

He even posed as a girl with a nappy fetish to try to con one boy into letting him see photos and offered "private singing lessons" in return for oral sex.

Kingsley, now of Marr Street, Alloa, was a highly respected and well-liked teacher at a school in Fife.But after only a term there, his double life was exposed in December 2009 and he was sacked.

The charges he faced yesterday went back to April 2007 and mostly covered the time when he was a student at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

Kingsley was also involved with a number of youth drama groups and gave private singing lessons at his then home in Dunfermline, the court heard.

Gillian Wade, prosecuting, said police raided the house and seized computer equipment, a mobile phone and sex aids.

As well as the sex chat with the 12-year-old boy whose parents had contacted them, computer experts uncovered about 3,000 chat logs with sexual content, along with 80 indecent photos and three video clips.

Gordon Martin, defending, said Kingsley's early confession had spared victims from further questioning and having to give evidence in court.

Pleading for leniency, the predator's lawyer said: "He clearly had substantial talent as far as teaching was concerned. That makes his conduct and subsequent fall from grace much more of a tragedy."