A FORMER PE teacher who admitted nine counts of indecent assault against three pupils has been jailed for two years.

The offences took place in the 1960s and 1970s when the now 85-year-old George Carroll was a teacher at Cartmel School and Sedbergh County Secondary School.

The investigation was launched as part of Cumbria Constabulary’s Operation Tweed – the investigation into non-recent abuse at residential schools in south Cumbria.

The court heard how three victims were identified and reported they had been the victims of indecent assaults by Carroll.

The first victim had been a pupil at Cartmel school in the early 1960s.

The court heard he was indecently assaulted in a shower block and in a tent.

Two other victims reported being indecently assaulted while at the Sedbergh school in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In his police interview, Carroll, of Queens Road, Bournemouth, said he could not fully recollect the incidents but did accept that he behaved in a sexually inappropriate manner with male pupils during his time as a teacher.

In response to one allegation, Carroll said: “I can’t see these youngsters making it up and I have these tendencies, so yeah.”

Carroll admitted the charges and was sentenced at Preston Crown Court.

Senior investigating officer Doug Marshall said: “Every survivor of child abuse deserves to have their case investigated.

“The victims in this case have had to live with what they were subjected to for decades. However, I hope that seeing their former PE teacher admit what he did and be brought to justice for his offences, all these years later, has brought them some comfort."