Isle of Man teacher sentenced to 15 years for rape
A maths teacher from the Isle of Man has been sentenced to 15 years in jail for rape and 10 counts of indecent assault.
Davoud Taghinejad, 58, committed the crimes from 2011 to 2013 and was found guilty by a jury of seven at Douglas court house last week.
The assaults involved five girls, aged between 13 and 17 at the time.
A court heard that Taghinejad will be added to the sex offenders register for an indefinite period of time.
The Douglas teacher taught at North Trafford College in Greater Manchester for 10 years before moving to the Isle of Man in 2009.
Speaking on behalf of the victims and families, Paula Gelling from Victim Support said: "This has been an extremely distressing time for us all- Davoud Taghinejad seriously abused his position with us as we trusted him as our teacher.
"As well as the severe mental anguish this has caused us all, our education has suffered. We are relived that justice has prevailed and we hope this ensures this man does not repeat such offences in the future.
"We would like to thank our family, friends, counsellors, police and court professionals for their part in achieving this.
Det Con Emily Perkins said: "The young girls in this matter have been extremely brave, not only in coming forward to the police, but also enduring the trauma of a court trial.
"We hope the girls will be able to move on with their lives with the help of their families and Victim Support."