Patrick Lennon
Age: 73
Town: Merseyside
Convicted: 04/10/2010
Married deputy head teacher encouraged and watched the rape of a three-year-old girl.
A married deputy head teacher, Patrick Lennon, has been sentenced to seven years in prison for encouraging and watching the rape of a three-year-old girl.
Lennon, a respected teacher at Greenbank High School in Southport, Merseyside, was known as a 'pillar of society'. However, he secretly formed a friendship with two other pedophiles, Joseph John Hawley (38) and Phillip Skitt (54).
On November 16, 2008, Lennon and Skitt watched via webcam as Hawley raped the young girl and broadcast the act online. They encouraged Hawley by sending him messages in chat rooms.
A transcript of their conversation during the abuse was read in court. Hawley can be heard saying it was a 'pity' the others were not there 'to help me play'. At the end of the abuse, Lennon, a father of two, described the attack as 'awesome'.
When interviewed by police, Lennon refused to answer questions. Forensic experts found over 500 indecent images on his computer. He later admitted to pretending to be a 14-year-old girl named Paula Jones online and using the webname Stargazer to chat with Hawley and Skitt, who knew his real identity. He initially claimed the chat logs about the rape were fantasy.
Police were alerted to Lennon's activities by investigators in Canada, who arrested a man who had traded child abuse images with him. They traced an email account, [email protected], back to Lennon.
Merseyside Police raided Lennon's home in Crosby, Merseyside, in September 2009 and arrested him. A search of his computer revealed the extent of his horrific encounters with Skitt and Hawley.