‘I clung to the fact I was telling the truth’

Photo: Pictures by DARREN ROBINSON

THE JOY OF FREEDOM: Neil Carr speaks to the Chronicle after the final verdicts.

SHORTLY before 1pm on Friday, teacher Neil Carr was acquitted of all charges of sexually touching young boys at his school, marking the end of a six-week Crown Court trial that has torn a school community in two. In his first exclusive in-depth interview, Neil Carr speaks to reporter Lewis Jones about living under the black cloud of suspicion and the trauma of the trial.


“PEOPLE in my situation contemplate running away or committing suicide, but in all honesty if I’d have killed myself people would say ‘it’s because he’s done it’. If I’d have run away — ‘it’s because he’s done it’.



“The only option I had was to face this head on and hope that I came out of the other side. I clung to the fact I was telling the truth.”

The 25-year-old teacher looks infinitely more relaxed than he did just days ago, encased in a glass dock and quivering as he waited to hear his fate from the jury spokesman.

After a week of staggered “not guilty” verdicts on the 20 charges of sexual assault on a child under 13, the sense of relief was almost too much to bear for Mr Carr and his family.

Though his exoneration is fraught with problems, he is ready to pick up the tatters of his life and re-piece them in the best way he can.

Neil was fewer than 18 months into his job when he was called into the headteacher’s office, in February 2011, to be told two boys had made sexual allegations against him. His world imploded.

After the first two boys in February, more came forward to make similar allegations, totalling seven by November.

A parents meeting at the school was staged to nip gossip in the bud but instead opened the floodgates. This would later be evident in court as members of both parties stood divided in the corridors.

His defence argued the allegations he had touched boys on their private parts during lessons had come from poisonous gossip spread from the boys and furthered by parents. Parents, staff and children were all called as witnesses during the trial, prompting emotional and heated scenes.

A key party in Neil’s success has been his flamboyant solicitor-advocate Marsha Myers, who embarked on a marathon six-hour closing speech. Even she admitted the case was going to be hard to win.

Important questions now need to be answered as to what the future will hold for Mr Carr. He has already intimated he would like to go back to the school - where some of his young accusers still attend.

Teachers, parents and children have all pledged support to Mr Carr and hope he will return.




Reporting restrictions



At the start of the trial, Judge Timothy Mort made a Section 39 order under the Children and Young Persons Act 1993 banning newspapers from revealing where Mr Carr lives and the school and town at which he taught at the time of the allegations.

A legal challenge to the restrictions was tabled before the final not-guilty verdicts were delivered on Friday. The judge rejected the appeal.



A much fuller version of this story is available in our print and eChron editions