A former Shetland Primary School teacher, now said to living in Lytham St. Anne’s, has been found guilty of sexually abusing six schoolboys and has been jailed by an Aberdeen Court for two-and-a-half years.

Forty-one-year-old Stephen Tait has been convicted of six charges involving young boys dating back more than a decade ago whilst teaching at Bell’s Brae Primary School in Lerwick.

The school teacher carried out the attacks on six young boys while he was a probationary teacher between August 2009 and July 2010.  The Court heard Tait had most recently been working in the food industry but had lost his job as a result of the court case.

A Spokesperson for Police Scotland said: ‘A man has been sentenced to two years and six months in jail after being found guilty of non-recent sexual offences against children in Shetland. Stephen Tait, 41, was convicted on March 1, 2024 following a trial of six offences against six boys, when he was a primary school teacher in Lerwick. The offences were committed between August 2009 and July 2010 and reported to Police Scotland in 2020.

Tait was subsequently arrested and charged with the crimes in May 2021.’

All six victims, now men, gave evidence either in person, via a pre-recorded video, or remotely from Lerwick. The jury of four women and eleven men found Tait guilty of all six charges by unanimous decision, taking less than an hour to do so. Tait was found guilty of touching the six boys sexually and forcing some to remove their clothes – one was molested on the private parts, and several spoke of being stroked or caressed on the bottom while they stood at his desk.

Tait also bought swimming trunks and forced one child to put them on while they were alone together in a classroom cupboard and made the boys discuss intimate and personal details about their bodies.

The court heard Tait has previous convictions from Dunfermline Sheriff Court dating back to 2012 where he was found guilty of sexually assaulting a boy and then found in 2013 to be in possession of indecent images of children.

Detective Chief Inspector Craig Still added, ‘Stephen Tait abused his position of trust as a teacher, and I would commend the victims for coming forward and reporting his behaviour to us. Investigating events that have happened in the past can present challenges and it can sometimes only be with hindsight that people recognise that what happened to them was abuse

We are committed to investigating all reports regardless of when abuse happened, where it took place or who was involved. We will listen, we will investigate, and we will take prompt action to ensure that no-one else is at risk of harm.‎ We would ask anyone wishing to report abuse to contact us on 101.”

The 41-year-old denied the abuse but was unanimously found guilty and sentenced to two-and-a-half years at Aberdeen Sheriff Court. Tait has been the sex offenders register for life.

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