Overview
- Mark Baker, 53, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault on a girl under 16 while he was a teacher at the River School in the 1990s.
- He received a 24‑month community order with 50 rehabilitation activity days, 180 hours of unpaid work, £150 in costs, and a five‑year sex offender notification requirement.
- Judge Martin Jackson said the sentence allows probation to conduct intensive work, following mitigation that cited Baker’s difficult childhood and lack of prior convictions.
- Prosecutors detailed grooming that led the child to believe they were in a relationship, including claims he told her she had the qualities of a wife as God decreed.
- West Mercia Police’s Protecting Vulnerable People team led the inquiry, DS Kirsty Hickling commended the victim’s bravery, and legal restrictions prevent identifying her.