Paedophile head teacher said he liked schoolgirls

A head teacher who told fellow paedophiles online that he was aroused by schoolgirls has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Dean Juric, 54, who led St Robert of Newminster School in Washington, Sunderland, was caught by an undercover officer while swapping child abuse fantasies with other men on a messaging app, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

He was also found with a stash of more than 30,000 indecent images of children as young as four, the court heard.

Juric, from Tynemouth, was jailed for eight months, suspended for 18, after admitting making and distributing indecent images of children.

On 1 November 2024, Juric first made contact with an undercover officer pretending to be a paedophile in a group on the Kik app and went on to send the man indecent images of teenage girls, prosecutor Omar Ahmad said.

Police raided his home on 17 January 2025 and seized two mobile phones, one of which had a cache of indecent images of children and records of chats on Kik, the court heard.

Officers found 54 images in the most serious category, including 23 videos, 36 in the next, with four videos, and 290 including 10 videos in the third classification, the court heard.

More than 30,000 images were not categorised by the police, the court heard, with the children ranging in age from four to 15.

In the chat logs, when asked by a fellow paedophile what turned him on the most, Juric replied "schoolgirls", the prosecutor said.

When another man said a girl in a picture sent out by Juric appeared to be 14, the head teacher replied "perfect age", the court heard.

He also said he "loves young girls" in another message, the court heard.

Judge Graham Robinson said Juric had "fallen a long way from grace" with his "many years of dedicated" work in the community now gone.

The judge told Juric it was often claimed by those caught downloading indecent images of children that it was a "victimless" crime, as the children had already been abused.

That claim was "wrong on two counts", the judge said.

Firstly, the "evil producers" of such images were encouraged to create more "filth" as people like Juric created a market for them, which perpetuated the abuse of more children, the judge said.

Secondly, the children who had already been abused would grow up "mortified" that images of them "being violated" were still circulating on the internet, the judge said.

But the judge said there was a "near certainty" of rehabilitation in Juric's case so suspended his sentence, on the condition he works with the probation service and completes accredited courses.

Juric must also do 150 hours of unpaid work and sign the sex offenders register and comply with a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

Speaking after the sentencing, a spokesperson for the Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust, which runs St Robert of Newminster School, said: "We unequivocally condemn the actions of Dean Juric."

They said there were "never any warning signs or concerns" about Juric and his arrest was "a profound shock and betrayal of the trust placed in him by our entire community".

He was immediately suspended and "no longer has any association with the trust", the spokesperson said.

"We have taken decisive action to support the school and are fully committed to rebuilding and strengthening our community after this deeply unsettling period," the spokesperson said, adding safeguarding was always the highest priority.

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