Twisted paedophile teacher David Crowther dies in jail after abusing young boys in Leeds

David Crowther, an inmate at HMP Leeds in Armley, died on January 31 at the age of 83, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman has confirmed.

He was sentenced to three years and seven months imprisonment in 2019 for sexually abusing two teenage boys he had befriended through a choir in the 1980s.

Crowther, of Oakdale Crescent, Huddersfield, was also previously convicted of five indecent assaults on children between 1973 and 1975 while working as a teacher in Leeds.

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And in January this year, he was found guilty after a trial of inciting a child to commit an act of gross indecency and two indecent assaults against an 11-year-old boy and handed a new 28-month jail sentence. The offences occurred in 1972 against an 11-year-old boy.

Speaking after the most recent sentencing, Detective Sergeant Emma Maltas, of Leeds District Safeguarding, said: “Crowther committed a huge betrayal of trust while visiting the victim’s home, sexually abusing him in his own bedroom while his parents were downstairs.

“This was a terrifying ordeal for a young boy to endure at the time and was something that had a lasting traumatic impact on him that he has had to carry with him throughout his adult life.

“We hope that the victim will gain some sense of closure from knowing Crowther has now been brought to justice for the harm his actions did to him, both at the time and over the years that followed.”

A spokesperson for the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman confirmed that a report into Crowther’s death will be published once an inquest has concluded.