'Every parent's worst nightmare': Evil teacher filmed and sexually abused young girls at Leeds primary school
A paedophile teacher who filmed young girls at a school while he sexually assaulted them has been told by a judge he is “every parent’s worst nightmare”.
Twisted Nathaniel Holt was handed a jail sentence this afternoon after admitting eight offences at Leeds Crown Court.
The 26-year-old was found to have thousands of images and videos stored, some of which were of him sexually touching young pupils whom he taught.
The school in Leeds cannot be named to protect the identity of his victims, but it was heard he spent years secretly recording youngsters for his own sexual gratification.
He first became a lunchtime supervisor before being employed as a playworker teacher. He would often be left alone with children, prosecutor Gabrielle Coates said.
It was not until 2022 that one young pupil broke down and told her mother she wanted to change schools because she “did not want to have anymore secrets”.
She said that Holt had asked her to lift up her skirt. She also said he tapped another girl on the bottom twice.
It was later found that he had looked up girls’ skirts to take images and squeezed the bottom of another child.
Holt, of Victoria Park Avenue, Bramley, was arrested in November 2022 and denied all allegations during his police interview.
But his internet devices were seized and 2,772 indecent images of Category C images were found. These included animated videos of child abuse.
More disturbingly, there were videos of him moving children’s underwear with his hands to expose their genitals.
Some of those victims were recognised as pupils from the school, as was one of the teachers who had been filmed.
Holt has no previous convictions. He admitted a charge of voyeurism, making indecent images, taking indecent images, possessing prohibited images, three of assault by touching and one of causing or inciting a child into sexual activity.
Mitigating, Christopher Dunn described Holt’s actions as “disgraceful” and that it was “impossible to describe the agony” he had caused to his victims and their families.
He said despite admitting the offences, Holt claimed he had no sexual interest in children, a claim that Mr Dunn said “can’t be right”.
The court heard that Holt had been diagnosed with autism and had been abused himself as a youngster, but said his only real mitigation were his guilty pleas.
Judge Geoffrey Marson KC told Holt: “What you did over a period was vile and disgusting.
“It’s very difficult to find words that adequately express the harm which you have done. You have a long-standing sexual interest in young girls.
“I’m entirely satisfied that you deliberately obtained that employment at that primary school so that you had access to young girls.
“What you did was a gross breach of trust. It’s every parent’s worst nightmare.”
He jailed him for five years and eight months.
He also gave him a life-long sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and put him on the sex offender register for life.