Inside disgraced headmaster's school office 'sex lair' where police found adult toys, booze, condoms and a piano
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A jailed headmaster transformed his school office into a seedy 'sex lair' with adult toys, lubricant, condoms, booze and an electric piano.
Detectives also found penis-shaped straws, a fridge full of Champagne, wipes, cushions used as a makeshift bed and a small electric hot plate for cooking when they raided the 'sex pad' that James Stewart set up with taxpayers' money.
The 'bullying' principal, 72, defrauded the school of £100,000 to fund a lavish lifestyle and romped with his secretary in the specially-built 'sex dungeon'.
The room was fitted out "like an apartment" with custom furniture, a drinks cabinet and an 'inner sanctum'.
Stewart, who was often holed up in his office, also spent the stolen funds on hotel stays in London and sex toys which he kept in his desk drawer, Cambridge News reports.
(Image: Cambridge News / BPM Media)
(Image: Cambridge News / BPM Media)
Stewart, principal of Sawtry Village Academy for almost 30 years, also habitually left the school to watch horse racing and flying off on skiing holidays and regularly drank heavily during the school day.
Investigations revealed that the £120,000-a-year headmaster had made £80,000 worth of bogus expenses claims to buy luxury items including smoked salmon and oysters.
Other claims made by Stewart - who was jailed for four years - often using his private credit card were for £570 on private car insurance, £11,000 on garden centres and diy stores and £3,000 on fish and wine.
Staff first raised the alarm with Oftsed inspectors after spotting Stewart and his married PA Christine Laxton on Channel 4 as they attended Newmarket races when he claimed to have been at a meeting.
(Image: Cambridge News / BPM Media)
They told how they had heard laughing sounds when Stewart was in his lavishly furnished office Mrs Laxton, along with clear sounds of a "sexual nature, rhythmic moaning and banging," Huntingdon Crown Court, Cambs, heard.
He was also heard serenading her on his electric piano and they would be seen in a dishevelled state with red wine stains around their mouths.
Detective Constable Al Bassam, of Cambridge Constabulary, told how Stewart spent the cash and set up his office as a sex ‘dungeon’.
The detective said: “The office was described by a witness as being set up like an apartment with a lounge area, dining area with cooking facilities and a bedroom area, made up of sofa cushions on the floor.
(Image: Cambridge News / BPM Media)
“One room contained a dining table, six chairs, three comfy chairs and a coffee table.
“There was a hand crafted dresser and several cupboards containing glasses and places with custom made oak furniture and doors that had been fitted.
“There was a sink and toilet described as being in the ‘inner sanctum’ which had been partitioned with towels and rugs on it.
“Within there items of a sexual nature were found, such as a large purple vibrator, two further vibrators in a drawer a selection of condoms, wet wipes, tissues, a game called saucy charades, a pack of penis shaped drinking straws, a finger clitoral stimulator, some watermelon lubricant, and six coasters with scenes from the Karma Sutra on them."
And further details of how Stewart spent his ill-gotten gains on sex toys and hotels have also been revealed.
Stewart spent £8,798 on electrical goods including at least three TVs, DVD players, cameras and laptops.
(Image: Cambridge News / BPM Media)
He racked up bills of a staggering £41,233 on food and drink including alcohol often in restaurants in Bedford near to his home address.
And Stewart spent £4,800 on ‘leisure activities’ - often hotel stays in London at the weekend and buying items of an “adult nature from a local adult store”.
He racked up a £1,280 phone bill and a further £10,766 in garden centres, DIY and furniture stores.
Stewart also used the money he defrauded from the school to pay £1,315 on private car insurance, £1,811 on gift cards and vouchers as well as £3,919 on travel.
Other spends included £119 on motor expenses, £6,547 on unknown non-receipted items
Within that £900 was spent on charge card expense, £724 on private insurance, £414 on newspaper and magazine subscriptions and finally £2,975 on fish and wine.
Jailing church-going Stewart, Judge Stuart Bridge said the ex head had become a "joke" as he abused his headship at the academy for five years until he "resigned in disgrace" in 2014.
(Image: Cambridge News / BPM Media)
The court heard the school had been left in a 'dire financial' position by the fraud, it had 'haemorrhaged staff,' and it had been put in 'special measures' during at Ofsted inspection in 2014.
Stewart, who read history at Cambridge, admitted six counts of fraud and one of misconduct in a public office.
Stewart's associate principal Alan Stevens, 66, was given a 24 week suspended sentence and ordered to do 80 hours unpaid work for also defrauding the school with bogus expense and credit card claims worth £364.59.
Sentencing Stewart, the judge described him as 'overbearing, bullying and superior.
He said: "You failed to provide quality of education in staff development and resources, to the detriment of the reputation of the college.
"It is impossible to calculate the impact of your conduct. You are paid to exercise discipline, to lead and get respect from children, staff and parents.
"You conducted yourself in such a way you became something of a joke. You appear now a man quite rightly a man humiliated by his actions.
"I am of the view that the only sentence this court can pass is a substantial sentence of immediate custody."
The court heard how Stewart and Stevens' fraudulent claims were "rubber-stamped" by the school's governing body's Responsible Officer, John Kelly.
The school's bursar Lisa Killner told police the late Mr Kelly claimed he "just did what Stewart asked him to do" and that "there were just signing off on each other's expenses."
The court heard Deputy Principal Sarah Shaw-Wilson felt Stewart had been "undermining and humiliating" to her when she tried to introduce changes to tutoring in 2010.
She told Ofsted inspectors there was a "distinct lack of leadership" by Stewart and Stevens during an inspection which saw the school put into "special measures".
Staff also told how Stewart was called a "racist, sexist, fattist bully" by staff and boasted his management style was "to divide and conquer".
Staff told inspectors that Stewart's absences from the school were a 'running joke.'
Stewart's swipe card showed he was rarely in school before 1030.
The school's site manager, said during the summer holidays he heard sounds coming from Stewart's office "likened to the Benny Hill Show".
Criminal charges were brought against the pair in December 2014 after the Education Funding Agency investigated the school in July of that year.
This investigation followed a June 2014 Ofsted inspection, which put the College into special measures.
Stewart pleaded guilty to charges brought against him in March 2017, including one misconduct in public office charge that stated he regularly had sex with an adult in his college office specially modified for this habit.
(Image: Googlemaps)
The misconduct charge also included the fact that he often drank alcoholic beverages on school property and kept others from meeting with him by shutting himself in his office for long periods of time, arriving late and leaving early for horse races and ski holidays abroad.
Stewart also pleaded guilty to six counts of fraud, including making false expense claims and unwarranted direct debit payments at Cambridge Crown Court. These totalled to more than £100,000.
He has since paid back the £100,000.
Today Mark Woods, Chief Executive Officer of Cambridge Meridian Academies Trust, said: "The presentation of the case by the prosecution made completely clear the destructive impact that Mr Stewart's absence of leadership over an extended period has had on the local community and school."
"The school has undergone dramatic improvements since joining our trust and is now in a very strong position with consistently strong academic results and strong leadership."