Warped Wakefield music teacher masturbated during online Zoom lessons with children

Warped 70-year-old Paul Moxon taught freelance lessons from his home in the Wakefield area using the meeting platform, Zoom. But he was caught out when a horrified pupil noticed he had taken his trousers down during one of her lessons.

She then caught sight of him performing a sex act on himself. The youngster suspected he had done it before but had previously covered his genitals with the musical instrument he was teaching, prosecutor Gerald Hendron told Leeds Crown Court.

The girl told her parents and the police were called. Moxon was arrested and internet devices and hard drives seized. They found more 1,000 illegal indecent images made up of Category A – the most serious – and Category B. But even more disturbingly, they found recordings of online lessons with pupils, from which Moxon then superimposed still images of the youngsters into sexual scenes involving himself. He even put audio of the victims’ speaking during lessons into the vile scenes.

Mr Hendron suggested that pupils were coerced into saying certain words that could be construed as sexually suggestive, in order for him to place them into his sick videos and fuel his sexual gratification. It was eventually found that there were several other victims.

The court heard that he had masturbated in front of the victims on multiple occasions. He was not affiliated to teaching at any schools in the area.

Moxon, of Wakefield Road, Normanton, gave no comments during two police interviews. He later admitted eight counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, and two of making indecent images.

He has no previous convictions, but his defence barrister Satpal Roth-Sharma said that he has accepted he had thrown away his long and distinguished career as a music tutor.

She said: “These are serious offences and he was a teacher in a position of trust which he wholly abused. He has had a shining career and one has to wonder what has triggered this. He has no previous convictions, he has never even had a speeding ticket in his life.

"Regrettably, his sexual behaviour has led to this, and he does not seek to avoid accepting that. He has become separated from his family and loneliness has played a part.”

The judge, Recorder David Gordon told Moxon: “This is extremely serious sexual offending, this was an abuse of trust. You were trusted by the parents of these children to help teach them music.”

He said of the superimposed images: “You are somebody with computer skills who manipulated those images for your own sexual gratification.”

He jailed him for three years and gave him a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) designed to monitor his internet use and ban him from contact with children. The order will last for life, while he will also be on the sex offenders register for life.

Moxon is also barred from ever teaching young people again.