Primary school teacher had illegal porn on his laptop

A primary school teacher and elected Tory councilor who was caught with a hoard of child porn on his computer claims it was downloaded and left there by a former lover.

Matthew Sephton, a 41-year old music teacher was arrested by police after National Crime Agency officers found almost 4,000 depraved images of children on his Mac computer and two iPhones.

The devices had been used to enter a series of sexually motivated search terms on Google and from Sephton’s Facebook own account including ‘naked teen boys’, ‘naked teen boy 13’, ‘teen boys’ and ‘hot boys.’

Officers also found a series of messages on one of the phones ‘clearly relating to a sexual interest in underage children.’

But at a court hearing Sephton – who sat on Conservative controlled Trafford Council in Greater Manchester and worked at Westmorland Primary School, in Stockport – denied wrongdoing blaming the illicit downloads and messages on a bisexual estate agent he knew only as ‘Tom’.

He said had tried to track down Tom at estate agents in Manchester and the Cheshire town of Knutsford since his arrest but his inquiries drew a blank.

‘I believe it was Tom,’ Sephton, who remains on trial, told a jury at Manchester Crown Court. 

‘He was the only person who had been round my house who had the time and it was the only possibility. It is my opinion it was him yes.

‘It was when I attended at the police station and I had to think about anyone who might have access to my devices and I had to work out who it was. I had to calm myself down as you can understand as I was in a right state as you can imagine.

‘Tom was the only person I can think of. He would have had access and I never shut my computer down – it was always on. It was always logged in. My phone wouldn’t always be in my pocket it would be around the house. Anyone who was in the house could access it.’

Police raided Sephton’s home in Altrincham in December 2016 and discovered his computer had been used to download thousands of indecent images of children over the previous month. Officers seized the PC from his study and the phones from another room and found 31 indecent videos of children and 3,774 indecent still images.

The devices had been used to enter a series of sexually motivated search terms on Google and from Sephton’s Facebook own account including ‘naked teen boys’, ‘naked teen boy 13’, ‘teen boys’ and ‘hot boys’

Facebook and WhatsApp conversations plus others on the online messaging service Telegram were also recovered from Sephton’s devices showing messages being swapped with another man Richard Willis. 

Prosecutors claim it was ‘immediately clear’ the Telegram account was used to share child pornography.

But in his defence Sephton claimed he knew nothing of the images and explicit messages and told how he met ‘Tom’ during a night out at Via bar in Manchester’s gay village.

‘I am only aware of his first name and met him around November 2015 at a bar. He came back to mine and left in the morning and I met him again by chance a few weeks later. I knew he alternated between work in Knutsford and Manchester so I would meet him on his way home.

‘Usually we met at my house but once we met in a bar in Altrincham. I would see him for a couple of months and then not for a couple of months. We would only arrange to meet in person we didn’t use phones to meet. He told me he was bisexual and involved with a girl at the time and he was very reluctant to give me his number.

‘The relationship was literally about sex to be absolutely honest but there was a possibility in my mind it could be more.’

He said of his arrest: ‘I was absolutely dumbstruck. I was shocked I was petrified and it wasn’t what I was expecting on a normal Thursday morning in a normal working week.

‘I thought why are they at my door? what are they doing? and the allegations made against me were just awful. I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing I had to ask them to explain again to me what it was all about. I gave the pin and the password to the devices because I thought it was all a huge mistake and they would find out as I had nothing to hide. I haven’t seen Tom since.

‘I must have spent about four or so weekends coming into Manchester to look for him. I went and asked about him and knocked on doors. I also went to Knutsford watching various estate agents and seeing if I could see him.

Sephton – who sat on Conservative controlled Trafford Council in Greater Manchester and worked at Westmorland Primary School, in Stockport – denied wrongdoing blaming the illicit downloads and messages on a bisexual estate agent he knew only as ‘Tom’

‘He was 5’10, he wore glasses, he had quite a good head of hair and platinum blonde hair or a dark colour he would dye it a lot. He had quite a nice smile, a big mouth and thick lips. He was white, average build – I didn’t manage to find any sign of him at all.’

But Huw Edwards prosecuting told the hearing: ‘The messages in the group conversations were all talking about sharing indecent images of children. In fact in that application the groups have names, and icons for each groups.

‘It is agreed that the titles of those groups were immediately indicative of indecent images of children. The prosecution says that it is obvious to anyone opening that application and that group that they were talking about indecent images of children.

‘Accessing that application would have been clear immediately. There was the possession of those chats plus these images recorded – and all of which are on not one but three of the defendant’s devices found in his home, with accounts in his name used on many occasions.’

Sephton who worked at Westmorland Primary School in Brinnington, Stockport, denies three allegations of making indecent photos of children, one count of possession of indecent images of children on an iPhone with a view to distribute, one count of possession of prohibitive images of children and a final count of possession of extreme pornographic images. 

The trial continues.