Former deputy headmaster sexually abused 12-year-old girl

Derek Farrand

A former deputy headmaster from Heywood sexually abused a 12-year-old girl whilst he was helping her recover from a previous rape ordeal.

Derek Farrand, 59, became infatuated with the girl after meeting her through family friends shortly before he retired from his job at a high school.

He initially bought her gifts including sweets, drinks and even a mobile phone to win her trust before subjecting her to a string of attacks.

Depraved Farrand also took a picture of himself abusing the girl and sexually assaulted her older sister.
The attack took place after Farrand found out the girl had been subjected to a previous rape which led to her attacker being jailed.

The former deputy headteacher at Palatine High School in Blackpool, Lancaster, was branded a "traitor" by his victims' family after he was jailed for four and a half years.

The girls' parents said: "I wish they had locked him up and thrown away the key. But at least now he can't hurt anyone else the way he has hurt us."

In a statement they added: "We are having to move house now because he knows where we live. The betrayal was immense. We trusted him from the background he came from, he was an ex-deputy headteacher.

"It's been a very distressing few months, when it all came out it was like somebody had ripped my heart out and torn it to shreds."

Farrand, who left his job in 2009, touched the older sister's leg and inappropriately touched the younger girl, Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester heard.

He was arrested last June when his partner discovered hundreds of pornographic images on his computer including pictures of his young victim. When confronted Farrand turned himself into police.

Mr Alaric Bassano, prosecuting said: "In a victim personal statement the younger girl said she felt horrible and hated the defendant. She regarded him as a traitor. He had abused their friendship and betrayed the trust placed in him."

Farrand admitted sexual assault and taking or making indecent images of a child and was ordered to sign the Sex Offender Register for an indefinite period.

He was also given a lifetime ban from working with children under the terms of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and was ordered not to contact the victim's family under the terms of a restraining order.

After the case, Detective Sargent Lindsay Booth of Greater Manchester Police said: "The two girls have coped well all the way through - but the effect on them is going to be there for a long time to come.

"It was a breach of trust and that will be particularly difficult to overcome for both of them. The elder girl really felt she needed to be in court for her younger sister who couldn't be there, and I hope that brings a bit of closure to them."