Deputy headteacher who watched toddler rape has sentence delayed

The sentencing of a deputy headteacher who encouraged another man to rape a three-year-old girl and then watched has been adjourned.

Patrick Lennon, 59, who taught at the all-girls Greenbank High School in Southport, was due to be sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court but the hearing was adjourned because of the late receipt of a psychiatric report and a probation officer's illness.

Lennon will be sentenced with his two co-accused on October 4.

Lennon encouraged John Hawley, 38, to sexually abuse the child while he and a third paedophile, Phillip Skitt, 54, of Orrell Road, Wigan, watched via a webcam.

Lennon was suspended from his post last September, having worked at the school since the 1970s.

He pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court in July to a string of sexual offences including two counts of encouraging or assisting Hawley, of Boundary Street, Bolton, to commit the attack on the little girl.

Hawley admitted three counts of raping the child during two years.

Lennon, of Warwick Avenue, Crosby, encouraged Hawley to attack the girl on November 16 2008. He admitted two counts of encouraging the abuse, six counts of possessing extreme pornography, and 15 counts of making indecent images of children.

When police arrested the disgraced teacher, a trawl of his computer led them to Skitt and Hawley. Skitt and Hawley have known each other for several years, Greater Manchester Police detectives said. They mostly communicated online but also met in person.

Skitt admitted two charges of encouraging the abuse, voyeurism and making indecent images of children.