A mum whose children were victims of a sexual predator is appealing the sentence handed to a paedophile headteacher last week, angry it is unduly lenient.
Pervert Miraz Triggs – a former assistant headteacher at Stevenage’s Barnwell School and head of the town’s Da Vinci Studio School of Science and Engineering – was back at Barnwell as a supply science teacher when police raided his home in Ickleton Road in Elmdon last June and found more than 21,000 indecent images of children on his computer.
The 46-year-old had also been talking to other perverts and sharing indecent images of children in chat rooms.
After pleading guilty to six offences, Triggs was given an 18 months’ suspended sentence and told to do 50 days rehab activity and 240 hours’ unpaid work.
Marilyn Hawes, who lives in Stevenage, is a former music teacher whose three sons were sexually groomed and assaulted by their headteacher.
In 2004, Marilyn set up Enough Abuse UK – a charity which educates those with a duty of care over children on how to recognise abusers’ behaviour.
She said: “Paedophiles can be very charismatic and like the Pied Piper.
“Triggs was in a position of trust, therefore he should have been put inside and a strong message sent to people in the teaching profession.
“Schools are a magnet for paedophiles. If I’m an alcoholic I go to a pub. If I’m a paedophile I’m not going to work in an old people’s home, am I?
“I speak as an angered teacher. It’s a privilege to be alongside parents helping children to live healthy, happy lives. When creeps like Triggs come along, it really enrages me.
“He had video footage of children having the most brutal sex. It’s the most depraved, vile thing ever, and we have no idea what he was thinking when he was walking around the schools he worked in. It makes me feel sick to my core.
“His sentence is an absolute smack in the face for those teachers who do their absolute best to support children.”
Marilyn intends to write to the Attorney General to appeal the sentence on the grounds it is unduly lenient.
She said: “The crime is bad enough, but this is not justice. Very rarely is there justice for the victims. We are far too pro-offender in this country.”
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