School teacher in West Yorkshire demanded naked photos from 12-year-old girls over Snapchat

Persistent paedophile Michael Pierce, who had worked in the West Yorkshire area, was jailed for six years at Leeds Crown Court this week and barred from working with children again.

The twisted 32-year-old targeted two youngsters on social media, latching onto the first one in 2020, initially discussing everyday subjects. He told her he was 16, and she told him she was 14 or 15, despite being 12.

Prosecutor Abigail Langford said he sent her a photo of himself but with his face obscured by an emoji. He began asking her for photos saying he would not leak them. She sent a picture of her legs but while wearing trousers, but he asked for one without. She sent him a photo of dressed up and ready to go out and he asked for one of her “bum”.

When she said no, he became angry and threatened to block her. He sent a picture of his erect penis and continued to ask for more intimate photos of her. He threatened to tell her friends that they had been engaging in sexual activities, saying she had to do what he told her or he would send out images of her.

Upset, the girl then deleted her Snapchat account but later set up others, which Pierce subsequently found. He then switched his attention to another 12-year-old, asking her to send him photos of herself and then sent her an intimate photo of the first girl.

However, the second girl threatened to get her uncle onto Pierce, calling him a “paedo”. Pierce was traced by an IP address to a property in Wakefield and arrested. He was a maths and PE teacher at the time.

During his police interview he denied the offences. Pierce, now of Blackstone Drive, Worksop, Nottinghamshire, later admitted causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, causing a child to watch a sexual act, inciting a child under 13 years to engage in sexual activity and distributing an indecent photograph of a child.

A victim impact statement from one of the victims was read out to the court. She said she had tried to take her own life several times, was scared that Pierce was still looking for her and felt “ashamed”, “dirty” and that “everybody was staring at her”.

Mitigating for Pierce, Jayne Beckett said he had enjoyed a normal upbringing, went into higher education and wanted to become teacher, which he achieved. But she said during lockdown of 2020 his mental health deteriorated and found himself living at his parents’ home.

She said: “He developed an addiction power and control. He lurched to this terrifying behaviour and he can’t excuse it.”

Judge Richard Mansell KC told Pierce that his actions towards the first girl was “callous” and described his conduct as being “quite determined, cynical, grooming behaviour”.

He added: “The only mitigation I find is your [previous] good character.” He put him on the sex offender register for life and gave him a life-long sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to have no unsupervised contact with children.

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Following the sentencing, Detective Sergeant Steven Sayles, of Wakefield District Child Vulnerable to Exploitation Team (CVET), said: “This man, who occupied a position of trust, has targeted young girls and used threatening behaviour to try and exploit them into sending indecent images.

“The nature of his crimes was particularly concerning given his role at the time. We have worked with local authority colleagues throughout this investigation to ensure that measures have been put in place to restrict his contact with children.

“These were horrible offences committed against vulnerable young girls. I hope the conclusion of this court case brings some closure on an upsetting and scary time for them.”