THE FORMER headmaster of a top Catholic school was branded a perverted hypocrite by a judge after being found guilty of abusing three of his pupils.

Rory O'Brien, 57, was jailed for three years following his conviction for five charges of indecent assault on three pupils at St Mary's Hall.

The father of five was cleared of indecently assaulting another boy. He will be placed on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life.

O'Brien, of Kemple End, Stonyhurst, showed little emotion after the guilty verdicts were announced.

He was found guilty of abusing one boy in the 1970s and two in the 90s at the preparatory school which is linked to Stonyhurst College. The public school is run by Jesuits and is considered one of the top catholic schools in the country.

Ironically, the former pupil O'Brien was cleared of abusing had made the first complaint which sparked of the police investigation.

The head was suspended from his job when the allegations surfaced in October 1998 and eventually asked to take early retirement.

Parents pay about £13,000 a year to send the children to the Ribble Valley school and O'Brien had a 30-year career at Stonyhurst.

Earlier in the trial, the court heard O'Brien regularly woke boys in their dormitories and took them to his own room where the assaults were carried out. Supporters, friends and relatives of the teacher packed the courtroom to hear the verdict which came after more than four hours of deliberations.

Before he was sentenced O'Brien thanked his supporters outside the courtroom and hugged his wife.

When Judge Brian Duckworth announced his sentence, O'Brien's wife Liz, who was at Preston Crown Court throughout the 13 day trial, started to weep.

The defendant blew a kiss to her before being led from the dock.

The judge said: "You have been presented to this court as a man of sterling character. Almost everybody who has given evidence has described you as somebody who has been a magnificent, charismatic, helpful and caring school master.

"Your career lies in ruins, your character has been destroyed."

He added: "You are a hypocrite and a humbug. For 25 years you have been living a lie of perversion.

"Touching little boys in the way you did was horrible and revolting behaviour. Any right-thinking people, particularly parents, will be horrified and disgusted. "Your case is particularly reprehensible because you abused your position of authority and trust."

Detective Inspector Steve Marston, who led the investigation into O'Brien, said: "I would like to pay tribute to the courage of the people who came forward and gave evidence against O'Brien.

"I consider this man to be a danger to young boys and without their courage he would not have been convicted."

O'Brien's solicitors announced they will appeal against the conviction as soon as possible.

His brother Jonathan said: "A lot of people who were in the court during the trial were dismayed by many aspects of the trial. There will be an appeal.

"The whole family have been left completely devastated by the verdict and it will take a long time to come to terms with what has happened."

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