Ex-teacher fined for flouting sex offender order
BBCA former teacher jailed for engaging in sexual activity with a pupil has been fined for breaches of a court order.
Registered sex offender Mark Craster-Chambers, 59, of Cumwhinton, Cumbria, was under notification requirements for his 2021 conviction, which included registering his financial and online information with police for 10 years.
He admitted four separate breaches of the order between 2021 and 2025, including having an undeclared YouTube account alias, bank account and bank card.
Craster-Chambers was fined £350 at Carlisle Magistrates' Court and was ordered to pay £85 prosecution costs and a £140 mandatory surcharge.
He had worked as the deputy head at John Ruskin School in Coniston, during a teaching career that lasted a quarter of a century.
In 2021, Craster-Chambers was sentenced to 18 months for engaging in sexual activity with a 16-year-old while in a position of trust. He was one of three men jailed for sexually abusing the girl during unconnected incidents two decades before.
Craster-Chambers, who left the teaching profession in 2017, was also banned from being teacher.
Prosecutor George Shelley said the defendant had been due to attend a police station in November to make his annual notification, but failed to do so.
'Accepted responsibilty'
Police analysed a mobile phone which revealed a YouTube account alias which was not formally notified to officers.
Prosecutors said he also had a Barclays bank card and account which he did not tell police about.
Craster-Chambers admitted the breaches on a formal basis which was accepted by the prosecution but not read in open court.
Defence solicitor Duncan Campbell said the four breaches had been "totally inadvertent".
"He held his hands up, accepting his responsibilities and taking them very seriously," the solicitor said.
Compliance with all other aspects of the notification requirement was "going absolutely fine", Campbell added.
Craster-Chambers was warned any further breaches would be dealt with more harshly.
