School head faces jail for AI-generated sexual images of teen girls | UK | News

A perverted school principal faces jail after creating and distributing artificial intelligence-generated sexual images of children, including young girls in school uniform. Dean Juric, 54, was the respected head of St Robert Newminster School, whose former pupils include education minister Bridget Phillipson and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.

But she was set upon when she believed she was chatting online with a 58-year-old man who was talking about his 7-year-old step-grandson. In fact, the person was an undercover Northumbria Police detective, with whom the presiding judge had contacted via messaging app Kik. The school in Washington, Tyne and Wear was shocked when Juric was arrested in January and immediately suspended. Now the pedophile faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced next month after admitting creating “fake” images and videos showing girls as young as 12 in sexual poses.

North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard he sent the detective an AI-generated image of a teenage girl wearing a school uniform who appeared to be around 15, and further images of girls who appeared to be 12 and 13.

Juric also sent the officer videos of young teenage girls and the court heard they were classed as Category A, the most violent form of child sexual abuse images.

There was no suggestion that any of the children in the images were secondary school students or looked like any other child at the school.

Juric, from North Tyneside, was arrested on January 17 and found to be in possession of 380 illegal images, including 31 Category A images.

He admitted to taking “allegedly” indecent photographs of children on three occasions and once distributing indecent photographs of children.

The prosecution said his position as headteacher was an “aggravating factor”.

He will be sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on 22 December.

The Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust, which runs St Robert of Newminster School, said Juric was under police investigation and was “immediately suspended” when it learned he was no longer working at the school or employed by the trust.

The trust said it understood the accusations did not relate to any one school or individual across the trust and that its priority was to ensure all students and families felt “safe, supported and informed”.

Juric, who has been president since September 2015, was always quick to praise the achievements of his former students.

Last year he said of Bridget Phillipson, who left the school in 2003: “It’s always great to hear success stories from our former students.

“Many of these achievements may not attract public attention, but in the case of Bridget Phillipson, the national spotlight is now on her.

“It was clear that he was going to achieve great things and as a school community we are very proud to see former St Robert’s students achieve such high achievements.

“Bridget is a real inspiration to students that with hard work and dedication they can truly succeed in life.

“We wish Bridget every success as she begins an important role as Education Minister in the new Government.”

And in 2018, as Jordan Pickford starred in England’s World Cup efforts, he said: “”Jordan has been a huge inspiration to our fellow students.

“His family has a long association with the school, both his mother and grandmother work there.

“My feeling is that he is a very focused and determined young man. He is humble but very self-assured and confident in a good, positive way.

“This will serve him well for the rest of the tournament and we are very proud to see such an excellent performance from a former student of ours.”