A senior teacher at a primary school that taught Prince George and Princess Charlotte has admitted paying thousands of pounds to Indian teenagers in exchange for sexually explicit pictures of children.
Matthew Smith, 34, of East Dulwich in London, today pleaded guilty to a further 18 counts of child molestation, including paying more than £65,000 to coerce teenagers in India into child abuse.
The former deputy headmaster at Thomas Preparatory School on Battersea High Street, south-west London, has been sacked from the £20,000 preparatory school, which taught Prince George and Princess Charlotte, after allegations first surfaced last November.
The Oxford University graduate previously worked in orphanages and NGOs across India from 2007 to 2014 before taking a position as deputy principal at a UK school in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, from 2017 to July 2022.
Smith has now pleaded guilty to a total of 22 charges after investigators raided his home in London last November and found he had asked a teenager in India to send him sexual images of a younger child, police said.
Matthew Smith, 34, (pictured) pleaded guilty to 18 counts of child sex abuse at Southwark Crown Court today
The teacher had also opened dark web sites and forums dedicated to child sexual abuse on his computer, the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
Investigators then analyzed chat logs and bank transactions and found that Smith had paid the same teenager and another teenager, also living in India, a total of £65,398 to molest children over a five-year period.
Before working at the school in Nepal, Smith worked for various periods in orphanages and NGOs across India between 2007 and 2014.
He then returned to the UK last July and began working at Thomas’s Prep in September, where he was Deputy Headmaster and Head of Chaplaincy, before being dismissed from the school two months later when charged by police.
Chat logs showed Smith ordering the young men to perform sexual acts on boys and sending them pictures and videos of examples of such acts that he would like to see reenacted.
The prep school teacher also gave one of the teenagers advice on how to befriend and build trust with children in an attempt to abuse them, police said.
The possibility of his crimes was first discovered when Smith was working in India, but there is no evidence he abused children living in Nepal or the UK, the NCA said.
During a raid on Smith’s home in south-east London, officers found over 120,000 indecent pictures of children stored on his laptop, an SD card and his phone.
Prosecutors charged him with a total of 22 criminal offenses, including encouraging the rape of a child under the age of 13, inciting sexual activity with a child under the age of 13 and organizing the sexual abuse of a child.
He pleaded guilty to 17 counts at Southwark Crown Court today, having previously admitted five counts at a hearing in November.
Matthew Smith previously worked as Deputy Headmaster at Prince George and Princess Charlotte’s £20,000 Thomas Preparatory School in Battersea, south-west London (pictured).
Helen Dore, senior officer at the National Crime Agency, said: “Matthew Smith was a high-risk individual and we acted quickly to locate, arrest and remanage him so he could no longer pose a danger to children.”
“Ultimately, we were able to prove that he was a prolific abuser who manipulated young men into sexually abusing children on his behalf by providing them with detailed instructions and receiving a financial reward.”
“While he was committing his offence, Smith was working in a school in Nepal and then became Deputy Headmaster and Head of Chaplaincy in the UK. So his crime is a deep betrayal of the trust placed in him.”
None of the offenses are related to his work at the £20,000-a-year Thomas Primary School, which was attended by Prince George and Princess Charlotte until the end of their final year.
Both royal children have since moved to Lambrook School, near Ascot in Berkshire, and had already left by the time Smith started work in September.
Claire Brinton, a special prosecutor in the CPS’s Organized Child Sexual Abuse Unit, called Smith’s crimes “particularly disturbing” given that he was an elementary school teacher.
Speaking after today’s hearing, she said: “Matthew Smith’s crimes are particularly worrying given that as a primary school teacher he is responsible for the care and protection of children.”
“Thousands of images and videos were recovered from his devices showing a chilling catalog of child sexual abuse.”
“Smith offered payment to individuals for indecent pictures to satisfy his own sexual desires, leading to horrific abuse of young children in India.”
“This conviction sends a clear signal that the CPS, in collaboration with the NCA and international partners, will work to bring those who sexually abuse and exploit children to justice, wherever that abuse occurs.”
Oxford University graduate Mathew Smith (pictured) previously worked for NGOs and orphanages in India and at a British school in Nepal
Before joining Thomas, Smith was Assistant Principal at the British School in Kathmandu, Nepal for five years.
He also taught at St Paul’s School in London, which charges a fee of £44,000 a year, and has degrees from Oxford and Cambridge Universities.
A Thomas School spokesman said: “We are shocked and appalled beyond measure by this matter and are grateful for the work being done by the police and courts to hold this man accountable.”
“Mr Smith’s employment at the school, which began in September 2022, was terminated immediately when the school first learned of the allegations against him in November.”
“While the National Crime Agency has confirmed that none of the matters investigated involve the school or its students, these regrettable actions represent an unforgivable breach of trust and our thoughts are with those who have been affected or harmed.”
“As always, we remain committed to the safety and well-being of our students and our entire school community.”
Smith will be sentenced in the same court next month.