Ex-teaching assistant jailed for child sex abuse

A man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for the sexual abuse he committed more than three decades ago.

Philip Watson, 60, of South Shields, sexually assaulted a number of schoolboys on separate occasions across the 1990s.

Northumbria Police said the offences took place in the Sunderland and Northumberland areas when Watson was employed as a teaching assistant.

Watson was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday for four counts of indecent assault on a child. He will remain on the sex offenders register for life.

His lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) will also continue to be in place.

Northumbria Police added Watson was previously been jailed for a string of child sex offences in the same employment role.

Further investigations got under way when more people came forward to report the same type of abuse, police said.

Watson was interviewed by officers in connection with the new allegations but denied any form of wrongdoing.

However, in July 2024 and then again in January last year, Watson was charged with a total of four counts of indecent assault - being that the offences took place before the Sexual Offences Act was introduced in 2003.

PC Colin Ramshaw said: "Watson has consistently refused to take accountability to what he did to these boys - now men - and I am pleased that they've been able to hold their abuser to account after all this time.

"To victim-survivors who are unsure about coming forward, I want to assure you that there is no time limit on justice."

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