Educating Cardiff teacher given suspended sentence after sexually assaulting teenager

A teacher who featured in the Channel 4 documentary series Educating Cardiff has been given a suspended sentence for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl.

Gareth Ritter, 44, of Bryngwyn, in Monmouthshire, originally denied the sexual assault charge, but during his trial in October changed his plea to guilty.

Sentencing Ritter on Wednesday, Judge Dyfed Llion Thomas described the incident as a "cruel assault on a young woman by an older man".

"She didn't want any of this sexual contact that you inflicted on her that night," he told the teacher and brass band conductor.

Ritter was given a 33-month sentence, suspended for 30 months, and was told he would be on the sex offenders' register for life.

Ritter had previously admitted two counts of making an indecent photograph of a child and another of distributing an indecent photograph of a child.

While investigating an unrelated incident, detectives had found intimate images of a young woman under the age of 18 on his phone and tablet. The court heard Ritter had claimed they had been sent to him by someone else.

When she was contacted about images of her found in Ritter's possession, the victim told police about the assault.

During the trial last month, Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard the attack happened after the teacher offered to drive the teenager home one night from an event in Cardiff in 2015.

En route, Ritter claimed he needed to stop off in a flat he owned in Cardiff Bay.

Once inside, the jury was told Ritter, who was in his 30s, touched the then 17-year-old's bottom and later kissed her in the hallway.

The woman told the court: "One hand went around my back, it dropped to my bum and he lent in and kissed me.

"I remember his tongue going into my mouth.

"I remember being against the wall, I couldn't step back. I remember him kissing me. I turned my face away. I held out my hands on his chest. It was a light push but not forceful."

Reading her victim impact statement during the trial, the victim said recalling the incident "makes me feel sick", adding she had blamed herself for what happened and had later been diagnosed with depression.

She said Ritter had "abused his position", and was someone she had "looked up to".

Ritter's defence barrister, Jenny Yeo told the court Ritter - who had no previous convictions - was "sorry beyond words for the stress and pain he had caused".

She added he had lost both his "long-serving" career in teaching and in music, as a result of his offending, and was seeking therapy.

"He has learned a very hard lesson and he assured me and the court that it will never be repeated."

Judge Thomas said he had "grave reservations" as to whether Ritter was truly remorseful and said he had shown "arrogance and self importance" when giving evidence in his trial.

He said the assault had been planned and called his actions "an abuse of trust".

"I think you targeted her on that night, you took her to a location where you knew you would be alone," he told Ritter.

The judge said: "[The victim] told the court during the trial, in evidence, what many, many people who are victims of sexual assault say – who is going to believe me?

"Well, she is believed, Mr Ritter, and everyone knows that what she told the court was true."

Suspending the sentence on Wednesday, the judge said he did so "with some reluctance", but had noted the defendant's previous good character and the potential impact on his family.

Ritter was ordered to carry out 250 hours of community service.

The court heard that a further hearing would be held to consider court costs, as well as a restraining order and a sexual harm prevention order.