A SENIOR teacher who worked at one of Suffolk’s top independent schools has been jailed for 16 months for making around 44,000 indecent images of children.

William Stansbury, who was assistant head and a former head of sixth form at Ipswich School, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court today to admit five charges of making indecent images of children.

Stansbury, 46, formerly of Stokebridge Maltings, Dock Street, Ipswich, was said to have downloaded the images, including in excess of 600 movies, over the course of nearly seven-and-a-half years.

Michael Crimp, prosecuting, told the court Stansbury, now of Ferndown, Dorset, had been driven by a compulsive element in his behaviour in which it was the discovery of new material which attracted him.

In Stansbury’s police interview after his arrest on August 14 last year, he said: “In a sense you are never satisfied with what you have got.

“I would never communicate with anybody. I would never share anything and I would never pay for anything.”

Mr Crimp said police found around 40,000 images on Stansbury’s computer at level one - the lowest level in the grading of child pornography.

There were 1,700 images at level two, 170 at level three, around 800 at level four of which a large proportion were movies, and 12 at level five (the most serious category).

The charges cover the period between April 4, 2005, and August 15, 2012, and the majority of the children pictured were between the ages of 10 and 14.

Steven Dyble, mitigating, said his Stansbury had expressed his remorse and co-operated fully with police following his arrest.

References were also handed to the court on Stansbury’s behalf, one of which described him as “kind and honourable”. Another was from a former pupil who said he was a “great teacher”.

Mr Dyble added: “Mr Stansbury was an excellent teacher. There is no suggestion that his dark side , if I may put it in that way, ever manifested itself in his public life.

“To the outside world he was a perfect teacher, but he harboured this darker side that he kept to himself.

“A great career as a teacher has ended. He will never teach again.”

The judge accepted that many of the images were duplicated and said it was likely he had downloaded half of the images.

Judge John Devaux said: “Some how you managed to disassociate your compulsive viewing from other areas of your life.

“This case has destroyed your career.”

Stansbury was also given a 10-year sexual offences prevention order as part of his sentence.

He had been an assistant head co-curricular and marking at Ipswich School and had also toured with its choir. He was also one of the school’s hockey coaches.

Stansbury’s home in Ipswich was searched by police last August.

He left his position at Ipswich School during the inquiry.

A statement from Ipswich School said: “We are glad that the court case involving a former member of Ipswich School teaching staff, Will Stansbury, has been concluded.”

Ipswich School headmaster Nicholas Weaver said: “As I said previously, we were obviously very shocked and saddened by this case regarding a former employee.

“Throughout the investigation we worked closely with the police and Suffolk Safeguarding, who confirmed that we acted entirely appropriately under the circumstances, and we were able to reassure our parents that no Ipswich School students were involved.”