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16
May 2023
Ex-teacher jailed for raping girl at Harrogate district school
A former maths teacher has been jailed for 18 years for raping and sexually assaulting a young girl at a boarding school in the 1990s.
John William Renel, 68, pinned the girl down and raped and indecently assaulted her in a locker room at Cundall Manor School near Boroughbridge, prosecutor Rupert Doswell told a jury at York Crown Court.
The victim, who can’t be named for legal reasons, didn’t report the matter to police until 2021, more than 20 years after the alleged sexual abuse.
She said that before the alleged rape at the fee-paying independent school, she and Renel were “joking about something” in the school kitchen when he picked her up and joked that he was going to “throw her in the bin”.
He then carried her out into the corridor and touched her on the thigh near an intimate part of her body, said Mr Doswell.
Mr Doswell added:
She said she turned her head “to stare at the wall” as Renel allegedly raped her.
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A family member later noticed that the victim, who was very young at the time of the offences, had become withdrawn and in adult life she had developed post-traumatic stress disorder which led to counselling and therapy.
Mr Doswell said that about five months after the victim’s first police interview, she contacted them again about the incident in the school locker room.
She said she could remember that during the rape, she felt as if Renel’s “body (was) crushing her” and that she was struggling to breathe.
According to the victim, Renel “simply walked away” after the incident, “leaving her on the ground”.
Mr Doswell said:
She said that before this incident, Renel again picked her up and dropped her on a bed in a dormitory.
He then laid down next to the victim, sexually assaulted her and then forced her hand onto an intimate part of his body.
Mr Doswell said:
Guilty on all counts
Renel, of Main Street, Sessay, near Thirsk, was brought in for questioning in 2021 but denied even knowing the girl.
He told police he had always taught in a tweed jacket but denied raping or sexually assaulting the girl.
He was charged with one count of rape and four counts of sexual assault against the girl. He denied all offences but was today found guilty on all counts.
Recorder Anthony Hawks moved straight to sentence and jailed Renel for 18 years.
The former teacher was also placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life and made subject to a sexual-harm prevention order for the protection of children. That order will also run indefinitely.
Following his sentence, Detective Constable Alison Morris, of North Yorkshire Police’s non-recent abuse investigation team, said:
In 1997, a few years after Renel left Cundall Manor, he was convicted of three counts of indecently assaulting a girl at another school in Keighley.
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