POLICE have today given permission for the Mercury to publish interviews they carried out with Nigel Leat following his arrest last December.

Our readers will be able to clearly see that the 51-year-old Hillside First School teacher, who will be sentenced today for abusing children in his classroom, denied allegations of sexual assault against the first victim in his first interview on December 13.

He told officers the crimes he was being accused of were ‘frankly disgusting and horrible’ and that he was ‘amazed’ at the allegations.

He then goes on to tell officers that none of the accusations were true and that his job as a teacher is to ‘look after children and nurture them’.

In a further interview on February 2 this year, long after video evidence came to light of Leat’s sickening abuse, the paedophile became unco-operative and stonewalls during interview.

Leat is today expected to receive a substantial prison sentence for sexually assaulting students aged six to eight over a 13-year period.

He chose a number of different teaching rooms and even the staff room to abuse students and film the acts at the school.

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