Ex-teacher and choirmaster David Pickthall, 66, has been setenced to 12 years in prison at Chelmsford Crown Court. He commited sex offences against 19 victims
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A former teacher who “would always have boys over to stay” at his home has been jailed for carrying out sex offences against 19 victims.
David Pickthall, 66, has been sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court for 12 years for the offences spanning more than 40 years. The heinous crimes took place between 1980 and 2021 in Brentwood and the Havering area.
Pickthall was a choirmaster during some of the years he offended and was awarded an MBE in 2015 for “services to education and to charity”. Some of the victims said Pickthall “would put pornography on to watch” and “when you stayed, his spare room was kitted out with a VCR and a TV”.
Essex Police officers also found that he had been engaging in sexual conversations with a 15 year-old boy on the messaging app Telegram. Investigators made the discovery in the months before his arrest in 2021.
One of his victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons and is using the pseudonym Edward, said: “He used to do this thing where he would essentially start playfighting and tickling but the tickling would then always involve what he used to refer to as a tickle spot which was basically him getting his hand down your trousers.”
Edward, who was a secondary pupil at the time and is now in his late 30s, said Pickthall “only tried with me once… because I hit him when that happened, but I did see him do it on other occasions to other boys”.
He said boys would be “plied with alcohol” and were “drinking beer, drinking whisky, not a bit, a lot” when they stayed at his house.
“It’s quite shocking looking back as an adult,” he said, adding that he started to stay over from around the age of 12.
He continued: “He was very calculatedly predating on boys.”
Edward said it gave him “solace” that the convictions could “genuinely (be) stopping other people being abused today”.
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The officer who led the investigation, Detective Constable Chelsie Stamford, believes there could be more victims. He urged people to come forward and said: “The scale of David Pickthall’s offending – both in terms of the number of people he targeted and the four decades in which it took place – is horrifying.
“I want to praise the courage of all those involved in the investigation for coming forward and telling us what happened. They have been subjected to ordeals which have had long lasting and deeply felt impacts.
“No-one should have to experience what they have, and I want to thank them for trusting us. Pickthall’s actions, and the lengths he went to for his own gratification, give the impression he never thought he would be caught and he could offend with impunity.
“Thanks to the bravery of the men involved in this investigation, he is now behind bars. Sadly, I do not believe Pickthall’s offending is limited to the 19 men involved in this investigation.
“I strongly suspect there are other people who will have been targeted and abused by him who we’ve not been able to identify. My message to you is please come and talk to us. You will be listened to, and we will investigate”.
