Retired headmaster, 75, who was honoured by the Queen for his services to young people is facing jail after being found guilty of gross indecency with a 14-year-old boy four decades ago
- John Coatman, 75, stood trial at the Old Bailey charged with buggery
- Court heard victim wasn't 'comfortable' with relationship with Coatman
- Coatman from Croydon, made an MBE in 2012, faces jail after he was found guilty of two counts of gross indecency by majority jury verdict
John Coatman, 75, (pictured) was found guilty of gross indecency with a 14-year-old boy 40 years ago
A retired headmaster is facing jail after he was found guilty of gross indecency with a 14-year-old boy 40 years ago.
John Coatman, 75, was found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey on August 26, after facing trial when he denied charges against him.
He charged with having sex with a 14-year-old boy he met through a Christian youth group in the 1970s.
Jurors heard that at the time of the incidents, Coatman was not only the headteacher of a secondary school in Croydon, south London, but was also involved in a Christian group for boys.
Corinne Bramwell, prosecuting, told how 'rough and tumble' turned sexual when the defendant was alone with the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Although the alleged victim said he was not 'entirely comfortable' with what happened, he did not report it to police until 2014, the court heard.
The catalyst was the breakdown of his marriage after his wife found out he was watching pornography and meeting adults online, as well as work problems, the court heard.
In a videoed police interview played to the court, the alleged victim told how he had been bullied before joining the Christian group which gave him a 'sense of a home' away from his family.
He wept as he told an officer: 'It was my first sexual experience and has coloured my sense of self-worth since then.'
At the time of the alleged incident, Coatman was headteacher of a secondary school in south London, as well as being involved with the Christian group for boys
Giving evidence in his defence, Coatman told jurors he had worked with around 22,000 young people in his lifetime and this was his first complaint.
He was headteacher of St Andrew's secondary school in Croydon, south London, and had a 50-year association with the Christian group.
He retired in 1998 after 42 years as a teacher and was awarded an MBE in 2012, the court heard.
Describing the day of his arrest in 2014, Coatman said: 'The phone was ringing and my immediate thought was one of my young people had had an accident.
'When I got there, I was arrested. It was a complete shock to me. I had no experience of this kind of thing before in my life. I had never had any sort of complaint.'
He went on: 'I was deeply shaken because over all my years and all the young people I have worked with I have only had tremendous successes and got on very well.'
He told jurors that he had devoted himself to being a teacher and 'achieved what I was aiming for' when St Andrew's was listed as 16th in a national league table.
Coatman, from Croydon, denied the charges against him but was found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey, pictured above, on August 26
Coatman, who described himself as a bachelor, denied the accusation that 'rough and tumble' with his accuser had turned sexual.
He told jurors that the only physical activity the young people engaged in was British Bulldog, and he had never been alone with any of them at his home.
The topic of sex did crop up during youth group meetings, but only in reference to passages in the Bible involving 'Christian aspects of sexual behaviour', he added.
But the jury rejected these explanations and found Coatman guilty of two counts of gross indecency after four hours and 20 minutes of deliberations.
The defendant, who made no reaction in the dock, was cleared of one charge of buggery.
Following the majority verdict, the jury heard that Coatman was suffering from prostate cancer.
Coatman was given conditional bail and will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on September 30.
Judge Richard Hone QC warned a jail sentence would follow.
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