Head teacher who raped child jailed for 16 years

Lee Brumby was described by the judge as a "deeply selfish man"

A former head teacher who raped and sexually abused a child has been jailed for 16 years.

The allegations were made against Lee Brumby while he was at Mayflower High School in Billericay, Essex, in 2022. The victim was not a pupil at the school, either past or present.

On one occasion, he made his victim "pretend to be a waitress, asking him what he wanted, pretending to serve him", Basildon Crown Court heard.

Judge Richard Conley said the 64-year-old, of Wellands in Witham, was a "deeply selfish man" who left behind a "trail of devastation".

He was found guilty of two counts of rape, two of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and one of indecency with a child.

The charges related to offences that took place between 2001 and 2014.

The victim was not a pupil - past or present - at Mayflower High School

In a statement read to the court, Brumby's victim said she would often wake in the night "shaking, panicking and unable to go back to sleep".

"My greatest fear is Lee Brumby will try to find me in retaliation for these allegations," she wrote.

Judge Conley said her life had been "blighted by crimes of sexualised violence".

Brumby was suspended by Mayflower High School after the allegations emerged.

He also worked at Southend High School for Girls, St Clere's School in Stanford-le-Hope, and at a school in Newcastle, as well as having a brief spell as a police officer.

"No doubt the pupils and parents of the pupils you taught will be left aghast when they learn of the kind of man who's charge they placed their children," Judge Conley said.

"It must've come as an enormous shock to learn what you were doing, hiding in plain sight."

Brumby was sentenced at Basildon Crown Court

Judge Conley said Brumby had posed at "the epitome of respectability; an accomplished professional".

Peter Rouch KC, mitigating, said Brumby continued to deny the allegations.

His ex-wife Elaine Brumby, of Kiln Way, Great Wakering, near Southend, was found not guilty of all six offences she was accused of at the same trial.

Judge Conley said Brumby would serve a further year on licence after his 16-year sentence had been served.

He made a restraining order preventing Brumby from contacting his victim for life, and ordered he sign the sex offenders register.