Teacher jailed for 8 years after pleading guilty to 27 sexual offences against teenage girls
The sentence follows an investigation by Surrey Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team.
Last updated 21st Nov 2020
A teacher has been jailed for 8 years for 27 sexual offices against teenage girls.
34 year old old Richard Michael Cottyn, from Sheffield, was sentenced at Guildford Crown Court on November 20.
He has also been put on the sex offenders register for life.
Cottyn pleaded guilty to 27 offences that took place over four years between 2013 and 2017, after being charged with 31 indictments.
Following a report from a victim he was arrested by Surrey Police in 2017 on suspicion of sexual activity with a child.
Hundreds of indecent images of girls were then discovered on his laptop, and thousands of chat logs with girls between the ages of 14 and 17.
In some cases Cottyn had met some of them. An indecent image of a female was also found on the device.
He was arrested again in June 2018 for offences relating to meeting children and the indecent image offence. Officers seized a further phone belonging to him which contained over 2,500 chat logs.
Additional material, including hundreds of indecent images of girls, were also found on his laptop.
“Cottyn abused his position of authority as a teacher to target vulnerable young girls under the guise of offering them emotional support. Using extremely manipulative behaviour, he met some of his victims for a sexual purpose. Hundreds of indecent images, including of the girls he communicated with, were found on his various devices.
“When Cottyn’s predatory behaviour came to light we launched an investigation which uncovered the huge scale of his offending."
Detective Constable James Tibbs, from Surrey Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team
“The fact that Cottyn is behind bars after pleading guilty to these horrific crimes is testament to the bravery of the victims who supported our investigation, and I would like to commend each and every one of them.”
“No one should have to suffer any kind of sexual abuse – and we want to reassure anyone in a similar position that if they come forward, they will be taken seriously and a full investigation will be carried out.”
Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Inspector Martin Goodwin