A SENIOR teacher – who a court heard was nicknamed "Mr Perv" – has gone on trial accused of sexually assaulting three schoolgirls.
Christopher Hird, 47, is alleged to have touched pupils aged 11 to 16 at South Holderness Technology College, in Preston, while working there as a chemistry teacher.
Mr Hird, who was head of science at the school, is accused of touching their hair and faces and touching their thighs and hips inappropriately.
One girl came forward after reading in the Mail about allegations against Mr Hird.
Prosecutor Simon Waley told Hull Crown Court: "One girl said that when he spoke to females he would blatantly stare at their chests and his nickname at school was 'Mr Perv'.
"Although the touchings here were brief and subtle, they are clearly touchings that had upset and stayed with the girls concerned.
"These are touchings at the hands of someone they should have able to entirely trust."
Mr Hird, who has been a teacher for 24 years and worked at the school for 12 years, is charged with three counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault against three girls.
The court heard one girl contacted the police after reading that Mr Hird had been charged with offences involving two other girls.
She said Mr Hird had touched her in her science lesson when she was aged 11.
"I saw the article and then looked at it again on the Hull Daily Mail website," she said.
"At first I was not sure what to do, but having read the article and seeing what had happened, I rang the headteacher and asked him for his advice and he said I should go to the police."
She said she had accidentally sat on a piece of paper in his lesson and he pulled it from under her.
"He reached in and pulled the paper out but at the same time feeling my leg and my bum," she said.
"The first thing I was aware of was a hand. I just felt this hand on my leg.
"I jumped and turned around and I saw Mr Hird.
"He said 'did you think it was a spider?' I laughed and said 'yes'.
"He took my hair braid between his fingers and said 'next time it might be'.
"I froze up, I didn't know what to say or do. I felt a bit awkward.
"I didn't tell anyone in authority, I just pretended it didn't happen."
In cross-examination, Mr Hird's barrister Mark McKone put it to the complainant: "You had seen the newspaper. You had no intention of reporting Mr Hird and do you accept the article could have influenced your experience?"
She replied: "I had never intended to report it. It is not something I had ever forgotten.
"It was purely seeing the newspaper that pushed me to do it.
"I never brushed it off, I was 11 years old in my first term at secondary school and I didn't want to be that girl who caused a fuss in the first few weeks at school, so I just carried on."
One girl said she got ink on her face and Mr Hird took a tissue to wipe it off.
It is alleged he stroked her hair out of the way and pressed himself up against her.
In another alleged offence against the same girl, she claims he pressed himself against her, put his hands around her waist and slid his fingers around her, then stroked her thigh.
Her mother reported the matter to the headteacher and the police were called.
The court heard another girl had made a complaint against Mr Hird to the school previously, accusing him of brushing himself against her, but the police had not been contacted.
Mr Hird, of South Cave, denies the charges and the trial continues.
