Fourth former Crookham Court School teacher jailed for child abuse

Mark Standish, also known as Alex Standish, of Station Street, Waterhouses, Durham, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment at Reading Crown Court on Friday, after a jury found him guilty of four counts of indecently assaulting a pupil while he was a teacher at the now closed Crookham Court School.
The school was closed after being exposed on BBC TV series That’s Life, which led to three members of staff being convicted for sexual abuse in the late 1980s.
After a trial at Reading Crown Court in 1989, owner of the school, Philip Cadman, was sentenced to 10 years in prison, reduced to six years on appeal in 1992.
French teacher, William Printer, was convicted of two indecent assaults and one attempted serious sexual assault, and was imprisoned for 10 years at the same trial. He also has his sentence cut to six years.
While English teacher, Anthony Edmonds, was jailed for six years after admitting four charges of serious sexual assault and seven charges of indecent assault.
Now 48-year-old Standish has been found guilty of incidents that took place between 1988 and 1989.
At Reading Crown Court on Friday, Judge Stephen John said Standish had deliberately targeted the vulnerable teenager, having befriended his parents who were abroad at the time.
Judge John added that the school had been run by a "sadistic and brutal regime".
For more on this story, including interviews with the victim, with Esther Rantzen (who investigated child abuse at the school while she was a presenter on BBC TV series That’s Life), and a former teacher at Crookham, see Thursday’s Newbury Weekly News.