Teacher arrested over child pictures

From the archive, first published Wednesday 19th May 2004.

A former teacher at a Brighton school has been arrested on suspicion of possessing child pornography.

Dutch-born Leslie Hoogland taught English at Dorothy Stringer School between 1978 and 1979 before emigrating to Canada.

He was arrested in Toronto after allegedly being caught with computer and camera equipment containing images of under-age boys in various stages of undress and involved in sex acts.

Some of the youngsters are thought to have been pupils at the Toronto school where he was teaching.

Dorothy Stringer deputy headteacher Brian Orrells said the school was contacted by the authorities in Canada following Mr Hoogland's arrest.

He confirmed to police that Mr Hoogland was a teacher at the school but had no further information about him.

He said: "The records we keep on teachers are only valid for five years and are then destroyed. I believe that is common practice at most schools."

After teaching at Dalton School in The Netherlands, Mr Hoogland moved to Canada in 1973 and taught in several schools before taking a one-year sabbatical in Brighton.

He returned to Canada and was working at the West Toronto Collegiate Institute teaching English, marketing and literacy when he was arrested on Friday. It was the culmination of a month-long investigation into Mr Hoogland, launched after police received a number of accusations.

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