Ajaz Karim has been jailed for ten years today for abusing girls as young as 14
A ‘smarmy’ sports coach who abused girls as young as 14 at one of the UK’s top private schools has been jailed for ten years today.
Ajaz Karim massaged a girl’s ‘virtually naked body’ after making her lie face down on the floor of his locked study before sexually assaulting her.
Karim claimed he was using alternative therapy the Bowen Technique and was teaching breathing exercises to help when playing sports, despite having no qualifications for the practice.
His trial heard how he also pushed another girl up against a wall and kissed her and tried to ‘snog’ another before laughing as she ran away.
He was found guilty in April of indecently assaulting six female students while he worked at Christ’s Hospital School, in Horsham, West Sussex, between 1985 and 1993.
The 63-year-old went on to work at a string of prestigious establishments including Eton College and Queen’s tennis club, where directors defended the former coach’s character with one saying he would ‘entrust my children to [Karim] even today’.
Karim, of Hammersmith, west London, is the third of five former teachers from the Christ’s Hospital School to be convicted of sexual abuse.
A jury found him guilty in April of nine charges of indecent assault and one of attempting to do so.
Judge Christine Henson said he displayed a ‘complete disregard’ and ‘continued arrogance’ towards his victims.

Christ’s Hospital school in Horsham: Three teachers have now been convicted of historic sex assaults on young girls at the West Sussex school
She said: ‘I’m in no doubt that you used your popularity as a teacher to groom your victims.
‘They should have been safe and secure, sadly they were not. You have betrayed everything a teacher should stand for.’
He left the school after complaints from four pupils made between 1990 and 1993 surfaced.
Senior staff came under fire from victims over the way they handled the allegations.
Teachers never reported him to the police and he was initially allowed to carry on working, even with the girls in question.
Reading a victim’s statement, Oliver Dunkin, prosecuting, said she was ‘deeply disappointed’ with the school’s handling of the incidents which made it ‘hugely traumatic’.
She added: ‘For 32 years I have lived with the deeply buried memory of events that took place with Mr Karim. Until recently I believed the impact had been minimal and I got on and lived my life.’
She said she now realises failing exams, having trust issues with authority figures, depression and problems with intimacy were all prompted by her ordeal.
Describing the assault, she said: ‘I heard a voice in my head screaming ‘This is wrong’. I was petrified, I believed no-one would believe me.’
Another victim, who said she was warned in 1992 by housemaster Bob Sillett her identity could be revealed if allegations against Karim became public, said the school ‘failed to protect’ her.
She said she was ‘shunned’ by classmates after Karim spread rumours about her when she complained.
His ‘deceitful actions’ made it a ‘truly unpleasant’ experience, she said, adding: ‘He knew I was a vulnerable young person and he exploited that.’
Divorced Karim, who has a 26-year-old son and was branded ‘smarmy’ by victims, described himself as an ‘arrogant young coach’ who was ‘really good looking’ at the time.
He said his victims were liars and even accused one of being a ‘manipulative’ attention seeker, saying he was ‘offended’ anyone suggested he was attracted to her.
Karim left the school after complaints from four pupils surfaced between 1990 and 1993. Staff never reported him to the police and he was initially allowed to carry on working, even with the girls in question.
Jonathan Davies, defending, said Karim knew the ‘book would be thrown at him’ after speaking with fellow convicted Christ’s Hospital teacher James Husband in prison and learning of his 17-year sentence for rape and indecent assault.
Branded as a school success story after earning a scholarship there after coming to the country as a Ugandan refugee, he said his fees were paid for by alumnus Sir Barnes Wallis, inventor of the bouncing bomb.
The school, founded in the 16th century, charges boarders up to £31,500 a year and students still wear a Tudor-style uniform of a long blue coat and high yellow socks.