Former teaching assistant who sexually assaulted a young girl during an improvised game of Twister.

Former Teaching Assistant Jailed for Sexually Assaulting Young Girls

Stephen Payne, 69, a former teaching assistant at Dharma Primary School in Patcham, Brighton, has been sentenced to six and a half years in prison for sexually assaulting four young girls between the ages of eight and 12.

The assaults took place over nearly two decades, between 2001 and 2018, and occurred at Payne's home. He was found guilty of 13 sexual offences, including indecent assault, engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged 13-15, and assault by touching a girl under 13.

Payne abused his position of trust as a teaching assistant, using various methods to assault the girls. He would measure their height against a wooden beam in his home and assault three of the victims during this process. He also initiated an improvised game of Twister with one of the victims, during which he assaulted her.

Sussex Police believe Payne may have more victims and are urging anyone who may have been assaulted by him to come forward. "Stephen Payne abused the trust of his young victims in the most appalling way," said PC Donna Bagguley of the Brighton and Hove safeguarding investigation unit. "Each of them has shown extraordinary courage to report his crimes and give evidence against him. We believed them, a jury believed them and now Payne will spend a significant amount of time behind bars."

Payne was first employed at Dharma Primary School in 1994 and worked there until his arrest in March 2020. The school closed in 2020. In addition to his prison sentence, Payne was given a sexual harm prevention order, a restraining order, and added to the sex offenders register for life.