The local police were shocked by the scale and cynicism of the crimes. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Matthew Gilks has turned into a national affair in the UK. A case of one large-scale pedophile teacher.
The former Manchester secondary school teacher, now 47, was sentenced to 16 years in prison for sexual abuse and for taking more than a million intimate photographs of minor students of age. Matthew wore hidden cameras.
Reminds him that his case began to be reported in August 2024, when he was caught trying to photograph children in a public space. Police followed his car as it left the parking lot, and he was detained that day.
There were searches of his home and workplace; were seized more than 80 electronic devices: laptops, portable cameras, memory cards and special pens. There were numerous photographs of minors, including students at the school where he was a teacher.
Matthew Gilks used the aforementioned spy pens. They were camcorders hidden in pens. Secretly filmed under their skirts, in the middle of class.
Then he also acted in the online world: he created fake profiles on social media, pretending to be a teenager. He gained the girls’ trust and, through manipulation, forced them to send intimate photos and videos. He did blackmail.
In court, the now former teacher declared guilty of several charges, including use of a hidden camera without consent, sexual contact with a child and possession of intimate images of children.
In addition to the 16 years in prison, the court sentenced him to a further 5 years of supervised release and issued an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
A local police were shocked with the scale and cynicism of the crimes. He described Gilks as “an extremely dangerous man who demonstrated persistent predatory behavior toward young girls for his own sexual gratification.”
Prosecutor Stacey Gosling added that the defendant showed no regard for the consequences long term and for the trauma that his abuse would cause to the young victims. And he praised the courage of his students, who were not afraid to testify against their former teacher in court.
