A VOLUNTARY Metropolitan Police sergeant and school teacher has pleaded guilty to nine counts of sexual assault after another 'concerned' child filmed the assault.
Craig Keane, a suspended member of the Metropolitan Special Constabulary and a former teacher at The Sandon School, Essex, appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday, February 20.
Essex Live reports that Keane, of Grange Road in Wickford, admitted lifting a sleeping six-year-old boy's pyjama bottoms and sexually touching him eight times between 12.37am and 12.39am on October 2 of last year, while the other seven charges relate to touching between 12.43am and 1.40am.
Prosecutor Jeremy Hayes revealed the sexual assaults were filmed by a camera hidden behind the curtain by a "concerned" child who was also in the room.
During the hearing it emerged Keane volunteered to help categorise indecent images of children as a Special Sergeant with the Metropolitan Police, a role he was suspended from after being charged.
Mr Hayes said:"There is no evidence of touching the naked genitalia of the child. The child was never aware of any touching and was asleep throughout. However, the child was vulnerable."
Acting on behalf of Keane, Heather Oliver called for a suspended sentence.
She said: "Of course it crosses the custodial threshold, but it may be suspendable given previous good character.
"It is one evening where there are a number of incidents. If the court is to look at it as a whole, it could be argued it is a sustained incident."
Mr Wincott, headteacher of The Sandon School where Keane taught, told The Irish Post: "We have been informed of the outcome at court.
"We consider the charges serious and grave and condemn such actions in the strongest possible terms."
The school also informed parents that the abuse does not relate to one of its pupils.
Keane was granted bail on the condition that he does not contact the family of the child he sexually assaulted; break a night-time curfew; or contact any child under 16 without being supervised by an adult.
Special Sergeant Craig Keane, 28, pleaded guilty to nine counts of sexual assault of a child under 13 years at Snaresbrook Crown Court and will be sentenced on March 20.
Keane was charged on Thursday, January 27 following an investigation led by the Sexual Offences Exploitation and Child Abuse Command.
He has been suspended from duty as Sergeant.
