FBI seeks potential victims of globetrotting teacher

UK authorities are assisting the FBI in the hunt for potential victims of a convicted sex offender who toured the globe for over four decades teaching at 10 international schools, including one in central London.

William Vahey, a US citizen, committed suicide last month in Minnesota after a memory stick containing sexually graphic images of at least 90 youngsters was found by a colleague. Most recently, Vahey was teaching at the American Nicaraguan School in Managua, Nicaragua, but he had previously held a four-year post as a history teacher at London's Southbank International - a fee-paying school primarily attended by the children of US expatriates.

The FBI said in a statement that Vahey's alleged victims were likely to be boys between the ages of 12 and 14 who may be unaware that they had been abused since Vahey admitted to drugging pupils with sleeping pills before assaulting them.

Vahey was jailed in California for child molestation in 1969, but three years later secured a job at an American school in Tehran before moving to other schools in Lebanon, Spain, Athens, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Venezuela and the UK. While his victims are "multinational", the FBI said the schools were largely attended by the children of American diplomats and military personnel living abroad.

Patrick Fransen, an FBI agent specialising in crimes against children, said Vahey's crimes had been prolific. "I've never seen another case where an individual may have molested this many children over such a long period of time," the agent said.

The FBI noted that Vahey had coached boys' basketball teams at several of the schools where he taught, and had been a "popular and highly-respected teacher" who regularly organised overnight field trips.

London's Southbank International school, where Vahey taught between 2009 and 2013, did not respond to requests for comment. The school is owned by Cognita, a profitmaking independent schools group.

Scotland Yard confirmed that officers from its sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse investigation team were "assessing and evaluating intelligence" passed on by US authorities, and were actively seeking new evidence.

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