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Teacher guilty of sex assault after touching pupil in classroom

A teacher has been found guilty of touching a child inappropriately in a classroom.

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Thomas Lawrence, aged 27 from Lutley Close, Bradmore, Wolverhampton, was convicted of two counts of assaulting a child by touching contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 at the city's Crown Court yesterday.

Lawrence was convicted after a four-day trial and will be sentenced at the same court on Tuesday, May 9.

The incidents occurred before February 2016.

The court heard that Lawrence, who qualified as a teacher in 2015, abused his position of trust when he touched a child inappropriately in a classroom at the Sandwell school he was teaching at.

At the time, the child reported the incident to his mother, who immediately contacted the school.

Lawrence was arrested in February 2016 and then suspended from his teaching position while police conducted further inquiries.

Following a check on items seized from his home, a number of images of children were found on a laptop alongside internet searches for child pornography.

There were no images of the child Lawrence touched or of any pupils at the school he taught at on the computer.

Detective Constable Farzana Ali, from the West Midlands Police Public Protection Unit, praised the victim for coming forward and urged others to report instances of abuse.

Det Con Ali said: "Lawrence used his position of trust and we cannot commend the young boy enough for coming forward and inevitably stopping this happening to another child.

"If anyone is worried that their child may have been subjected to abuse I would stress that we take reports of abuse seriously and will always investigate.

"We have a range of support services available from the police and a host of other agencies.

"We have specially trained and experienced officers who can offer practical advice and support."

West Midlands Police's Public Protection Unit can be contacted on 101.

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