A HEADTEACHER has spoken of her 'horror' at the behaviour of a former school lab technician who tried to commit sex abuse against children.

However, Cath Crossley has reassured parents no pupils at her school were targeted by Andrew Rimington.

The 66-year-old of Showell Close, Droitwich, had admitted inciting a girl aged between 13 and 15 to engage in sexual activity after he was caught in a police sting by undercover officers.

Rimington, a former lab technician at the school, committed the offence between December 2 and December 12 last year and was sentenced to a 12 month community order with a 35 day rehabilitation activity requirement when he appeared at Hereford Crown Court.

Mrs Crossley, who described Rimington's behaviour as 'sickening', said in a Facebook message to parents and staff at Witton Middle School in Droitwich: "Some of you may remember that Mr Rimington worked here at the school. He was a part-time lab technician and left in January 2017.

"I would like to reassure you that his offence does not relate to any pupils here at Witton Middle School.

"I realise this is a very concerning matter so if you have any additional questions or concerns please get in touch with me at school."

In a second post she wrote: "Regarding yesterday's post about the former staff member in the news: all parents should today have received a letter.

"Please let us know if you did not receive this. Unfortunately we were not informed of the conviction before it appeared in the news, so we have acted to inform parents as quickly as we were able.

"We will continue to talk to children about ways that they can keep themselves safe online and would like to reassure you that the school safeguarding procedures are extremely robust and praised by Ofsted.

"We share the horror that the community feels and are grateful for the responses we have had. Please do contact us if you have any concerns."

A letter has also been sent to parents. Rimington's employment was terminated as soon as they were made aware of the allegation.

The Worcester News also spoke to Mrs Crossley who said the school was deemed by Ofsted to go 'over and above' the requirements for safeguarding and had 'rigorous' culture of vigilance.

Rimington worked at the school for around six years and was criminal record checked before being employed by her predecessor.

Mrs Crossley said: "The training you do suggests that people who have this kind of agenda are often very good at their jobs and deliberately try not to attract any attention. Mr Rimington fitted that profile. He was a quiet and unassuming man. He kept himself to himself."

Whenever he was in classroom with children there would always be two adults present - a teacher and a teaching assistant.

She said the conviction had affected the whole community, including her personally.

The school also brought forward an assembly on safeguarding and said staff had been open and honest with parents as soon as the sentencing hearing came to light.

Rimington's conviction arose out of Operation Safenet which attempts to to bring suspected paedophiles operating online to justice. David Jackson, 48, of Blackfriars Avenue, Droitwich, was another recent case.

The most serious of Jackson's offences was attempting to incite a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity between May 8 and May 12 this year. He further admitted four counts of attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a sexual offence.

Jackson also admitted three counts of making indecent images of children between September 1 last year and June 9 this year and one of distributing an indecent image of a child in December 19 last year. He sent the category B image to an undercover police officer.