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| Head guilty of nine sex charges | |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| A primary school head teacher has been found guilty of nine sex assault charges against children. | |
| David Thorley, 56, from Carmarthen who had denied charges of sexually assaulting five girls was cleared of two of the 11 charges. | |
| Eight of the original 19 charges were withdrawn at Swansea Crown Court after Judge Michael Burr said they lacked "evidence of quality". | Eight of the original 19 charges were withdrawn at Swansea Crown Court after Judge Michael Burr said they lacked "evidence of quality". |
| Thorley was bailed to reappear before the judge for sentence at a later date. | |
| During the trial the court had heard allegations that Thorley had "an unhealthy interest in young girls" and took advantage of them under the pretext of applying creams or other medications. | |
| Sexual gratification | |
| Judge Michael Burr had said that in many of the instances described to the court there had been "absolutely no evidence at all of sexual touching." | |
| He said there was only one issue in the case - did Thorley derive sexual gratification from his behaviour towards the children he was accused of assaulting. | |
| In one incident, Huw Rees, prosecuting, said Thorley had engineered a situation where he could apply talcum powder to the private parts of two girls. | |
| But Thorley claimed it was totally untrue and he had taken them swimming because he had been asked to. | |
| During police interviews the head teacher had admitted treatments had been applied but denied there had been a sexual motive or that he had received sexual gratification. | |
| He said he felt it was his duty under child protection guidelines to treat the children and he had always ensured a female member of staff was present. | |
| The jury also heard that Thorley had the "full support" of his staff, and he was described by teachers as "a respected leader who cared for children". | |
| Denial | |
| Although a former teaching assistant told the jury how she saw Thorley carry out an intimate examination of a young girl in the presence of other staff members. | |
| She said she did not believe what he was doing was right and went against everything she had been taught about child protection. | |
| During the trial, Thorley spoke of his "complete devastation" brought about by his prosecution. | |
| He had described the Pembrokeshire school as a "lovely place, great children, great staff. I'm very proud of it". | |
| Asked why certain allegations had been made against him he said he believed that "malign influences" had been involved. | |
| He said there had been "a devastating sequence of events that resulted from press publicity about my arrest". |