Simon Clark, the Mould Paedophile Teacher, served as the head of the department at Alun School in Mould, while maintaining a family at home.
However, the 46-year-old was concealing a disturbing secret. Clark impersonated a teenage guy on Snapchat to lure girls into transmitting sexual photographs to him.
Chester Crown Court was informed that he targeted 26 minors, some as young as 10 years old. The father of two has been divorced by his wife, his career is concluded, and he is currently incarcerated.
A judge today imposed an eight-year prison sentence, followed by an additional four years under supervision. The paedophile educator maintained a lowered head while he was incarcerated.
The court today heard that Clark impersonated a 14-year-old boy through a fraudulent Snapchat username named “Jamie_jones6968,” sending several explicit messages to girls and encouraging some to reciprocate with sexual photographs. Subscribe to our crime newsletter here to receive court reports promptly.
Judge Simon Berkson said he had no doubt his offending would have continued if he hadn’t been stopped after the mother of one victim noticed an unknown man had asked her daughter for a naked photograph and reported him to police.
It was every parent’s nightmare, he said.
The case against Simon Clark began in January, 2023, when police in North Wales were contacted by the concerned parent. Initial enquires suggested that the suspect was living in the Cheshire area, so the case was passed to Cheshire Police.
An investigation was subsequently launched by detectives from the Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) at Cheshire Police and during their enquiries officers established that Simon Clark was the suspect in the case.
A warrant was conducted at his home in May, 2023, and four devices were seized from the address. During subsequent analysis officers discovered that Simon Clark had been posing as a teenager using the Snapchat account.
The judge said the truth must have come as a “terrible shock” to the victims and their families. He branded Simon Clark a “dangerous” offender.
Simon Clark was given an eight year term, with four more years on licence on his release, for inciting a child under 13 to engage in penetrative sexual activity. The remaining jail terms, which are all concurrent, range from 40 months to four months.
Simon Clark also received concurrent sentences of eight months, four months and four weeks for making indecent images in categories A, B and C.
The judge told the defendant he represented a “significant risk” to children. Judge Berkson said: “It is, of course, every parent’s worst nightmare, this sort of thing happening to their children.
“Many of the offences involve sexual communication, some involving inciting children to engage in sexual activity. This was well planned and sophisticated criminal behaviour.
“You clearly have a sexual interest from the sexual abuse of children and gain sexual gratification from it.”
Simon Clark’s barrister, Jeremy Rawson, referred to a “black side” to him. He said: “He has lost everything as a result of this.
“There’s a black side to his character which is unrestrained and he gave into it and he bitterly regrets it.” He went on: “It’s a terribly sad case. It’s sad for those children whose trust has been abused. It’s sad for the parents of those children whose trust has been marred by this man.
“On the other side of the coin, this is a man who had a future, who had responsibilities and who had an education.” When he goes into custody then comes out he will have to “start again from nothing”.
Simon Clark admitted 29 charges in total. He admitted one count of inciting a child under 13 to engage in penetrative sexual activity, two of inciting a child under 13 to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity and two counts of inciting a child under 16 to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity.
He also admitted 21 counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child under 16, making 26 indecent images of children of Category A, making 29 indecent images of children of Category B and making 81 indecent images of children of Category C.
Following the sentencing, Detective Constable Louise Murphy and Detective Constable Megan Griffiths, who led the investigation, said: “Firstly, we would like to praise the victims in this case for the bravery and courage that they have shown throughout this investigation.
“Clark was a teacher, he held a position of trust, and the messages we recovered clearly showed that he was well aware that his victims were all under the age of 16, but despite this he continued his crimes in order to satisfy his own warped sexual desires.
“It was apparent throughout the investigation that Simon Clark is a sexual predator who preyed on young girls, with no regard for the effects his actions would have on the victims or their families.
“While they will never be able to forget what he did, we hope the sentence handed to Clark will provide the victims with some closure and allow them to move forward with their lives.”
An NSPCC spokesperson said: “As a teacher Simon Clark had a duty to keep children safe.
“Instead for seven years he posed as a teenage boy on a social media platform, using his fake profile to target and groom young girls before persuading them to send naked images of themselves.
“This kind of sexual abuse can have a devastating impact on the victims and it is vital all the children involved in this case have access to the support they need to move forwards with their lives.
“This case also highlights the need for social media sites to be doing much more to protect children and prevent offenders like Simon Clark from using their platforms to carry out their crimes.”
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.