Teacher at Prince George’s former school paid teens to abuse children in India

Matthew Smith instructed young men to perform sexual acts on boys and would send them images and videos as examples.

A former teacher of St Thomas's Battersea, which was attended by Prince William's son George, pleaded guilty to paying tens of thousands of pounds to instruct teenagers in India to abuse younger children. Matthew Smith, 34, was arrested by the National Crime Agency in November 2022, after he shared abuse material on the dark web, My London reported.

Matthew Smith spent tens of thousands of pounds for young children in India to be abused.

Then he was speaking to a teenage boy living in India, asking him to send sexual images of a younger child, in return for money, investigators found. The former teacher also had dark-web sites open on his computer all of which were dedicated to child sexual abuse. He was charged with five offences, including causing sexual exploitation of a child under 13.

Following the investigation, it was found that Matthew Smith paid that same teenager, and another also based in India, £65,398 to abuse children. He was then living in Nepal and was working for a school but moved back to the UK in July 2022 and began working at a primary school in London.

Matthew Smith instructed young men to perform sexual acts on boys and would send them images and videos as examples, it was found. Over 120,000 images of children which Matthew Smith had saved on a laptop, SD card and on his phone were recovered. The teacher pleaded guilty to the initial offences in November 2022 and has been charged with a further 17 counts.

He is due to be sentenced in August.

Helen Dore, senior officer of the National Crime Agency, said, “Matthew Smith was a high risk individual and we moved quickly to locate, arrest and remand him so he could no longer pose a threat to children. Ultimately, we were able to prove that he was a prolific offender who manipulated young men to sexually abuse children on his behalf, giving them detailed instructions and financial reward. While conducting his offending, Smith worked at a school in Nepal, then became a deputy head teacher and head of pastoral care in the UK, so his offending is a deep betrayal of the trust placed in him.

“The NCA is dedicated to operating online and overseas, working with global partners to ensure that children are safeguarded and offenders like Smith are brought to justice," Helen Dore said.

A spokesperson for the school said, “We have been shocked and appalled beyond measure by this matter and are grateful for the work of the police and courts in bringing this man to account. Mr Smith’s employment at the school, which commenced in September 2022, was terminated with immediate effect when the school first learned of the charges against him in November."