Eton headmaster ‘appalled’ as he apologises after former teacher is jailed for sexually assaulting ‘vulnerable’ 16-year-old pupil

The headmaster of Eton College has offered an ‘unreserved apology’ after a former teacher known for wrestling pupils in their beds was jailed for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old student.

The court heard that Jacob Leland, a Russian teacher at an elite boarding school, invited the boy to his home, gave him alcohol and abused him.

At his trial, the 37-year-old was known to play “wrestling games” with boys at school and show them obscene videos.

Simon Henderson, the current principal of Eton College, where annual fees are more than £60,000 a year, said in a statement that he was ‘horrified’ by Leland’s crimes.

“Eton needs to acknowledge not only that such a serious incident occurred at our school, but also that it took several years for the details of what happened to come to light,” Mr Henderson said.

‘As headmaster, I am appalled that this abuse is taking place at Eton.

‘Mr Leland’s criminal behavior represents the most egregious breach of trust.

‘Those directly affected by Mr. Leland’s actions had the right to be safe in our care.’

In 2012, Leland, who was 23 at the time, sexually assaulted the victim, who was 16 at the time, at his home. He also sexually assaulted the victim on a separate occasion, after which Leland ignored the boy, leaving him ‘feeling confused and rejected’.

He added: ‘On behalf of the school, I reiterate my unreserved apologies to them.’

Prosecutor Eloise Marshall KC argued on Friday that Leland used ‘sophisticated grooming techniques’ such as giving children cigarettes.

Miss Marshall said: ‘The victim was a student at Eton college and this defendant came to work at Eton college while the victim was studying there.

‘Jacob Leland invited the victim to his home under the pretext of giving a gift, gave him alcohol and cigarettes, and asked the victim’s friends to leave before committing two crimes.’

The court heard that in 2012 Leland, then 23, sexually assaulted the victim, then 16, at his flat in Eton, Berkshire, commenting “how tough I was”.

He also sexually assaulted the victim during a school trip, after which Leland ignored the boy, leaving him ‘feeling confused and rejected’.

In a personal statement, the victim said he had suffered psychological harm, including complex post-traumatic stress disorder, as a result of the incident.

Miss Marshall said: ‘The victim had a particular vulnerability which was known to this defendant and I submit that the pre-sentence report took the view that he targeted the victim for these reasons. He was able to get closer to the victim and take advantage of the school’s requests to help the victim.

Eton College in Berkshire. The 37-year-old was known for playing ‘wrestling games’ with boys at school and showing them obscene videos.

‘Inviting the victim into your home, offering alcohol and normalizing tactile behavior requires forethought, although not extensive planning.

‘There is no doubt that these events were committed because the defendant wanted to have sexual intercourse with the victim.’

Leland, from Islington, London, denied three charges of sexual assault but was found guilty after a trial in October. He had no previous criminal record, but had a warning for theft since 2007.

He was also acquitted of 10 counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child and one count of causing or encouraging a child to engage in sexual activity in relation to another student at the school.

The court heard Leland admitted engaging in sexual activity with the complainant but said it was a consensual relationship that took place when the boy was in Year 12 and Leland was no longer an Eton master. After almost two years at school, Leland left school in August 2012 to work in China.

But Ms Marshall said there was an admission of ‘reprehensible behaviour’ in relation to the other complainant, including where Leland returned to visit Eton and ‘sneaked’ into the boys’ side of the boarding house to see the complainant.

‘The complainant was a much younger person than he was,’ Ms Marshall said. ‘He encouraged the complainant to lie to the school and family.’

The court heard Leland also acted as a ‘spotter’ for boys at the school, encouraging them to beat curfew.

Reading Crown Court, where Leland was sentenced to more than three years in prison for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old schoolboy (file picture)

‘His position in the school was that of a master who was trusted and had control over the young men in his charge,’ said Miss Marshall. ‘The circumstances in which the victim was found in this defendant’s home were part of this defendant’s grooming.’

The former teacher claimed during his trial that he ‘felt like an outsider’ at Eton because of his boyish appearance, sexuality and unfamiliarity with the school’s archaic ways.

Leland, who was in his early 20s and studied Russian while working at a boarding school after graduating from Cambridge, told how he was regularly mistaken for one of the boys by other staff, told he wasn’t allowed to have any more crisps and asked which house he was in.

She told the hearing that she struggled with acne and once found graffiti that said ‘spots wrote the lyrics to the High School musical in Braille’, which hurt her feelings.

He said the boys at Eton were regularly homophobic and seemed incredibly sexually confident, even though he felt he couldn’t teach them sex education because he believed they were more experienced than him.

Esther Schutzer-Weissmann, defending, described Leland as ‘much younger and much less capable of navigating the position he was in’.

He said he was ‘a late-developing man who was adolescent-like in these characteristics, and that his actions in relation to the victim represented something out of character, something that was truly a deplorable error of judgement’.

The lawyer said Leland’s mother was an employee of his father, who was 22 years his senior, and the relationship ended when Leland was a teenager ‘under circumstances that included, for example, being told his mother had died while he was leaving’.

In the pre-sentence report, Leland was quoted as saying he wanted to apologize to the victim for ‘taking advantage of him in a place where he should have felt safe’.

“I used it for my own pleasure,” Leland said. ‘I left him with permanent scars.’

Sentencing at Reading crown court, Judge Kirsty Real said only an immediate prison sentence could be justified.

The judge said: ‘The relationship between teacher and pupil in a school undoubtedly gives rise to a significant level of liability to the victim which the victim would be entitled to rely on.

‘For the victim, the psychological effects of what you did to him were long-lasting and serious.’

‘You were thought to be cool compared to other teachers because of the way you interacted with boys more generally,’ the judge said.

In his statement, Mr Henderson added: ‘The welfare and wellbeing of our students is Eton’s top priority.

‘When conservation issues arise, they are dealt with in accordance with our established processes.

‘We work closely with external authorities and refer matters to them where appropriate, as we did in this case.’

Judge Real jailed Leland, of Gatcombe Road, London, for three years and three months and told him he must sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.