February 2015

British charity worker Simon Harris jailed for abusing boys in Kenya

A British former public school teacher who sexually abused Kenyan street children after luring them to his lavish home with offers of food, money and the promise of education has been jailed for 17 years and four months.

Simon Harris, who ran an educational charity in the east African country, picked up boys in his Land Rover and took them to his home, known as the Green House, where he subjected them to terrifying and humiliating sexual abuse.

Judge Philip Parker QC, told Harris, 55, he was obviously intelligent and charismatic, which had given him “a veneer of respectability”, but he had used this to conceal a “self-centred arrogance”.

The former classics teacher did not look up as the judge continued: “You designed your life to be close to boys; it suited you to be in education,” he said. “It gave you kudos and it also provided a source of boys.”

Parker said Harris had targeted youngsters who were “amongst the most vulnerable in the world”. He said: “You assumed a hallowed position among the locals. You were revered as someone who could provide the gift of education. You were answerable to no one.”

The judge said Harris’s charity work in education meant “no-one batted an eyelid” when he washed boys and allowed youngsters to sleep in his bedroom at his remote home. “You walked on water. But none of them knew you had a sexual motive.”

Parker said his Kenyan victims had been left “used, degraded, and humiliated”, adding: “The mental scars will almost certainly never heal.”

Harris, of Pudleston near Leominster in Herefordshire, was convicted of three indecent assaults and five sexual assaults. One victim was thought to be as young as nine. He was also found guilty of four charges of possessing indecent images of children.

One of the victims who made a complaint against Harris is believed to have killed himself before the jury at Birmingham crown court reached its verdicts in December.

Harris became familiar with Kenya in the 1980s after taking British children there on trekking expeditions. He came up with the idea of running a charity in Kenya – called VAE – giving young British people the chance to teach local children during gap years.

In the witness box, Harris claimed he lived for education. “It’s fundamental,” he said. “Education is the most important thing for development in the third world.” But the prosecution said he drove into the town of Gilgil and enticed boys living rough or in very poor conditions into his white Land Rover.

Back at the Green House, he sexually abused the boys and threatened them with death if they told anyone what he had done. The court heard he beat some boys with sticks, pled them with alcohol and drugs and urinated in their mouths.

Before the trial, Harris admitted indecently assaulting three teenage pupils in the 1980s at a private school, Shebbear College in Devon, where he taught Latin. The judge said those victims had been left haunted and revolted. He has served a 15-month jail term after being convicted in 2009 of possessing indecent images of children.

Harris was exposed in a Channel 4 Unreported World documentary, which led to a British police investigation. In some circumstances, British citizens can be tried in the UK for serious offences committed abroad.

The human rights organisation the International Justice Mission, which worked with law enforcement agencies to support the victims, welcomed the sentence.

Chief executive Terry Tennens said: “Today’s sentence is a landmark moment for the UK justice system and for all the organisations and authorities who worked together to secure the imprisonment of this man. The tough sentence sends a clear message that those who abuse vulnerable, young children will be held accountable.”

Police described Harris as a calculating and prolific offender and said there could be many more victims in Kenya who had not come forward.

Harris would drive into the town of Gilgil and offer street children food and money to go home with him

December 2014

Briton Simon Harris guilty of Kenyan child abuse

A British former public school teacher has been found guilty of sexually abusing street children in Kenya.

Simon Harris was found guilty of seven charges of indecent and sexual assault on the youngsters in Gilgil.

He was also convicted at Birmingham Crown Court of four counts of possessing indecent images of children.

The trial jury cleared Harris, 55, of Pudleston, near Leominster, Herefordshire of seven charges, including rape.

Judge Philip Parker QC told the jury he would accept majority verdicts on five remaining counts against the defendant.

Harris had faced 23 charges in total, including 18 allegations relating to assaults.

The offences were committed while Harris was running a gap year charity he set up in the East African country in the 1990s.

During his trial prosecutors said he lured street boys to his home, known locally as “The Green House”, by offering them food and shelter.

Before the trial, Harris admitted six offences of indecent assault against three boys aged between 13 and 14 when he was a teacher at Shebbear College, Devon, in the 1980s.

He had originally faced 22 charges relating to assaults in Kenya, but Judge Philip Parker QC told jurors four had been removed from the indictment mid-trial.

October 2014

Former teacher admits indecently assaulting boys at private school in Devon

A man has admitted indecently assaulting boys at a private school where he used to work as a teacher.

Simon Harris, appearing today at Birmingham Crown Court pleaded guilty to sex offences committed against three pupils, all aged between 13 and 14, while he was employed at Shebbear College in Devon in the 1980s.

Harris, appearing in custody but formerly of Pudleston near Leominster in Herefordshire, is set to stand trial tomorrow on 27 further sexual offences involving young boys in Kenya.

The 55-year-old has entered not guilty pleas to those charges, which include allegations he raped boys as young as seven while in the west African country.

On those charges, Harris is facing four allegations that he raped boys under the age of 13 and another who was under the age of 16, with three counts of attempted rape also on the indictment.

He further denies 10 offences of sexual assault, four of indecent assault and five charges of possession of indecent pictures.

Throughout the hearing, Harris sat composed in the dock, sporting thinning grey hair and wearing a dark suit and tie, speaking only to confirm his name and his pleas as the charges were read out.

In all, there are more than 10 complainants from Kenya, with the jury set to hear evidence from those individuals over a live video link system in a trial scheduled to last until Christmas.

The case has been adjourned until tomorrow when 12 jurors will be sworn in and the prosecution is set to open its case.