Neil Beckett abused and preyed upon young girls he was supposed to protect.
As a welfare officer at Lagan College, an integrated secondary school in Belfast, he was given a list with the names of pupils considered to be vulnerable.
A list designed to identify young girls in need of help instead became a list of targets.
"He manipulated these young girls," said Detective Inspector Noelle Gray of the PSNI's Public Protection Branch.
"He had access to young, vulnerable females within that school and he knew who those females were, and he brought them into the health and wellbeing office and there is when they have confirmed or told us that they were abused by Mr Beckett with that school setting."
The 44-year-old father from Co Down also abused young girls he had access to during his time as a British Army cadet leader.
Following a five-week trial at Belfast Crown Court in October, Beckett was found guilty of 17 charges against nine teenage girls aged between 12 and 17.
The offences, one count of sexual grooming and 16 of sexual assault were committed between 2015 and 2023.
Seven of his victims were sexually assaulted while pupils at Lagan College while two, a 12-year-old and a 16-year-old, were members of the army cadets.
Beckett was acquitted of raping one of the cadets but was found guilty of sexually grooming her and sexually abusing another.
One of the former Lagan College pupils, who we are referring to as Anne, not her real name, has spoken of her ordeal.
Anne was on the list of vulnerable pupils because she is autistic.
She said Beckett initially appeared to be "a very charming individual" when she began going to his office "just to talk to him about my problems".
However, the school welfare officer wanted to do more than talk.
"Whenever I would go to him for to talk to him about my problems he would always give me a hug," she explained.
"And those hugs continued even whenever I wasn’t going there for a comforting reason, just to go and talk to him about other things, or he would always ask me in the school halls to come into his office for a coffee.
"He would sign me out of my classes and email my teachers to explain my absences from class and then whenever he would hug me sometimes his hands were under my blazer, sometimes they were on my lower back, or touching my bum.
"And then there was one incident in December of my upper sixth year where he had tickled me, and that’s whenever I started to feel a lot more uncomfortable," she said.
Confused about what was happening and too embarrassed and afraid to discuss his behaviour with her parents, Anne broke her silence following news reports about complaints against Beckett from other pupils.
It was then she knew she was not alone.
"I didn’t want to believe it, but I knew that it wasn’t even just because of the way I felt about it, it was because of his actions. I realised that, like, that’s not something that a person in a position of power should be doing to young girls.
"I felt really uncomfortable reporting it. It was very difficult to talk about, and still is," Anne said.
Other pupils also reported being hugged, kissed, and tickled when they went to Beckett’s office.
Her father, who we have agreed to call John, said Beckett’s abuse and betrayal of his position of trust will have a lasting impact.
"When you send your child to school you think you are sending them somewhere they will be safe," he explained.
"It’s very painful to watch your own child suffer and to see the impact that it’s had on her life, you know, to see her life plans upset.
"To see her mood change and behaviour change and become a bit more withdrawn, very wary of men, very conscious or nervous about being touched or hugged by me, by her mum, because it triggers, the hugging triggers for her.
"The abuse of trust here, where most of the girls that were abused by Beckett were on a list in the school of vulnerable children, and he sought to seek them out and prey on them and abuse them for his own gratification," he said.
John and Anne both praised the approach taken by the PSNI investigation team and say they hope other victims of sexual abuse will have the confidence to report the crimes.
"If there are girls out there suffering, do speak up," said John.
"Do come forward like my daughter has and you have a good chance at justice."
PSNI Detective Inspector Noelle Gray believes there are other victims of Beckett of have not yet come forward, as well as those of many other sexual predators.
"I believe this is a crime that does go generally unreported and I do believe that, you know, listening to Anne and her father John today should empower others to come forward and we’re there for them when they do come forward."
Anne has welcomed Beckett’s sentencing, but the harm caused by his actions remains.
"It’s good that he’s getting, that we’re getting the justice that we deserve for what he’s done," she said.
"But that doesn’t make it any better. It doesn’t really, it gives me a sense of comfort that he’ll never be able to do this again, but it also means I have to deal with this for the rest of my life, and that there are other girls out there in similar situations who don’t have the same justice that I and so many of the other girls are going to get," Anne added.
