Sex beast faces jail for abuse
A paedophile carer who abused children at a special school near Wolverhampton is facing years behind bars after being convicted of sex attacks on young boys for a second time.
A paedophile carer who abused children at a special school near Wolverhampton is facing years behind bars after being convicted of sex attacks on young boys for a second time.
Paul Wootton, aged 45, of Lichfield, abused boys when he was a "house parent" at Wightwick Hall School.
He was meant to be looking after the welfare of youngsters with emotional problems or learning difficulties.
But Wootton, from Cornfield Drive, pleaded guilty to five serious sexual offences on youngsters aged under 16 dating back to the 1980s and 1990s.
They included sex attacks in the changing rooms at Bridgnorth Youth Club, where he would take youngsters out of school hours, and in the laundry and bedrooms at the school in Tinacre Hill, Compton.
At Wolverhampton Crown Court on Wednesday, he denied three offences, including one attack in the school's swimming pool changing rooms, and they were ordered to lie on file.
In 1996, Wootton, then of Brean Road, Stafford, was jailed for six months for indecently assaulting two boys.
Judge Clive Tayler QC told Wootton at the time: "You were in a position of trust. You used that situation to further your homosexual desires.''
At yesterday's hearing, Judge Nicholas Webb pointed out: "The fact that I'm remanding you on bail should not be taken as any indication of what the ultimate sentence will be."
Wootton admitted two acts of gross indecency and three other sexual offences and will be sentenced in December.
Mr Towlowchan Dubb, defending, asked for pre-sentence reports to be drawn up, and said Wootton had been struggling to come to terms with his sexuality at the time of the attacks.
Det Sgt Paul Knowles, of Bilston Street CID, said: "He was a position of trust over children already vulnerable, either socially or through family breakdowns.
"There's no suggestion any of the current staff or the other pupils had any knowledge of the abuse. "
Headteacher at the Wightwick Hall School, Paul Elliott, said: "None of the teachers who were at the school at this time are working at the school now."
By Crime Correspondent Mike Woods