A school a convicted paedophile had worked at was unaware he had carried out the abuse while working there until he was jailed yesterday.

Michael Porteous was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison at Kingston Crown Court yesterday after he was found guilty of sexually abusing a pupil at the Richmond school in the 1970s.

Yesterday: Former Richmond teacher jailed for abuse of pupil

Mark Turner, the headmaster of King’s House School, said the school had been approached by the police about 18 months ago, requesting any background information on Porteous.

But the headmaster said the school was not aware the offences had been committed by him while he was a teacher at the school until Porteous was convicted yesterday.

Mr Turner said: "We are shocked that a former teacher of the school abused his position of trust in this way and committed a deplorable crime against a pupil in his care.

"We commend the courage of the victim who came forward and had the strength to make the allegation against Porteous.

"Although we are saddened that the school was not in a position to prevent the actions of Porteous, and that it took almost 40 years to bring this matter to the attention of the police, we are very pleased to see that justice has been done."