Former Christ’s Hospital teacher is jailed for sex offences for third time

Peter John Howard Webb, 77, retired, was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment at Hove Crown Court today (Wednesday September 9), having been convicted after a three-day trial of three counts of indecent assault on a boy in the 1970s, while Webb was a teacher at Christ’s Hospital, police said.

A spokesman added: “The prosecution, authorised by the CPS, followed an investigation by detectives from the Sussex Police Complex Abuse Unit following a report received for the first time in August 2019.”

The court heard that Webb had already been given sentences totalling seven years, imposed in 2015 and 2017, for a series of indecent assaults on five other boys in the 1970s and 1980s, while he was a woodwork teacher and housemaster at Christ’s Hospital, said police. He was still a serving prisoner at the time of this latest trial.

The spokesman added: “Webb is already a registered sex offender for life and is still subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) imposed in 2017, to last until further court order, severely restricting his access to young people.”

Detective Sergeant Rebecca Wilde of the Sussex Police Complex Abuse Unit said: “This is the third time that Webb has faced justice, as his victims from so many years ago have gradually found the strength to come forward and support our investigations.”

DS Wilde said Webb had ‘systematically targeted’ this boy and his other victims for his own sexual gratification.

“To this day the victim remembers, as well as the distressing events, the distinctive aroma of stale alcohol and tobacco that he associates with Webb,” she added.

“This is another example of the way in which we will always follow up such reports, no matter how long ago the events are said to have occurred, to support victims and seek justice for them wherever possible.

“If you have been a victim, or know of someone who has, there is no need to suffer in silence. Contact us at any time online or by calling 101, and arrange to talk in confidence to experienced investigators.”

Sussex Police said they had full co-operation from management at the school during the investigation. Detectives emphasise that the events in this case occurred more than 45 years ago and have no relation to the current or recent management of the school and its pupils.