'Sadistic' teacher, 91, who abused pupils is oldest person in UK to be jailed for 1st time

A 91-YEAR-OLD former teacher who committed a series of sadistic sex attacks on schoolboys has today become the oldest person in the UK to be jailed for the first time.

Former teacher Marcus Marcussen, aged 91, arrives at Birmingham Magistrates Court SWNS

Former teacher Marcus Marcussen, aged 91, arrives at Birmingham Magistrates Court

Cruel Marcus Marcussen remained unmoved in the dock as a judge sentenced him to nine years in prison at Birmingham Crown Court.

The former PE teacher abused 14 schoolboys between 1957 and 1978, with the crimes branded "tinged with sadism".

A court heard how Marcussen, of Rochford, in Worcestershire, brandished a whale bone to strike and intimidate his pupils, forced boys to use a swimming pool naked and abused his victims at a youth club and in a shower block.

A jury took 12 hours to reach a unanimous guilty verdict on Tuesday, convicting Marcussen of 25 counts of indecent assault after a three-week trial. He had no previous convictions.

Marcussen, with no previous convictions, had denied abusing the pupils at Ilmington Road Comprehensive School in Weoley Castle, Birmingham.

Sentencing Marcussen this morning, Judge Nicholas Webb told the sex offender: "You retain an acute intelligence and although you are physically frail, forty or fifty years ago I am sure you were a formidable presence in the classroom.

"Standards of discipline were different then – corporal punishment was allowed – but your regime was tinged with sadism towards pupils.

"Every one of the witnesses remembered you and your deeds. Some have come to terms with their experiences better than others.

"However, all of the men who gave evidence, some now in their sixties and one or two in their seventies, have been affected for the worse by their experiences literally at your hands."

A jury took 12 hours to unanimously find the former PE teacher guilty on Tuesday SWNS

A jury took 12 hours to unanimously find the former PE teacher guilty on Tuesday

Any custodial sentence passed on Mr Marcussen is going to weigh far more heavily on him because of his age than it would on any other defendant

Sharon Bailey, defence counsel

Condemning Marcussen for creating an atmosphere of fear, Judge Webb added the victims had been "in effect groomed" while simultaneously being subjected to frequent – sometimes weekly – offending.

During the trial, a jury heard how one of the victims had attempted suicide following the abuse.

Another was caned by a school's headmaster after he made a complaint of sexual abuse at the time, the court heard.

Opening the case at the start of the trial, prosecutor Sarah Buckingham said Marcussen "hid behind a veneer of respectability" created by his work in the community with disadvantaged boys.

Ms Buckingham told Birmingham Crown Court the first victim to contact police did so after receiving psychiatric support following a mental breakdown.

Another ex-Ilmington Road pupil later came forward reporting an indecent assault during the 1970s.

Marcussen was then charged with indecent assault and indecency offences and subsequent media coverage led to the remaining victims coming forward.

During her opening address, Ms Buckingham asked jurors to bear in mind that society was "very different" in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, with little chance of complaints by children being taken seriously.

Defence counsel Sharon Bailey told the court that "at the age of 91 he [Marcussen] will be the oldest person to be sent to custody for the first time".

She added: "Any custodial sentence passed on Mr Marcussen is going to weigh far more heavily on him because of his age than it would on any other defendant."

Last year, former lance corporal Albert Barrow was jailed for sexually abusing two young victims over many years.

At the age of 90, he was at the time the oldest person ever to be jailed for the first time in the UK.

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