Essex teacher jailed for 10 years after posing as teenager on Snapchat to groom and assault girls

Essex teacher jailed for 10 years after posing as teenager on Snapchat to groom and assault girls Syed Ahmed was sentenced for child sex offences including rape and sexual assault - Bookmark Become an Independent member to bookmark this article Already a member? Log in A maths teacher who posed as teenage boys on Snapchat to groom vulnerable girls has been jailed for 10 years. Syed Ahmed, 38, was sentenced at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday for child sex offences including rape and sexual assault, following a trial that ran between June and July. The court also imposed an additional three-year extended licence period. Prosecutor Daniel O’Donoghue told the court that Ahmed was in his early 30s at the time of the offending and was a maths teacher working in Essex. It was heard that Ahmed approached teenage girls on social media platforms such as Wizz or Yubo “using a false name, age and highly-filtered self-image”. His exchanges with the girls then moved on to Snapchat, where the defendant “engaged in grooming behaviour”. The prosecutor told the court: “He used a number of techniques to gain their trust including flattery, promise of gifts, flirtation interest in them, declarations of love and future relationships, sending images of other girls sat in his car, and skilfully moved the exchanges quickly on to sexual topics. “In some cases, he asked for and received sexual images, and he persuaded five of the victims to meet him in person.” A sentencing hearing was told that Ahmed used a number of techniques to gain the trust of his victims, including filters, fake names, flattery and declaration of love before moving the conversation to sexual topics. He persuaded five of his victims to meet him in person. The court was told that on each occasion, he arrived in his car and once they got in, he drove them to an isolated space – including a wooded area, an unfurnished flat and a summerhouse – where he engaged in sexual acts with the girls. It was heard that Ahmed’s offending “varied in its extent”. All his victims were aged between 13 and 16, and were not students at the school he taught at. The defendant has been convicted of three counts of rape, five counts of meeting a child following sexual grooming, two counts of assault by penetration, one count of causing a child to engage in sexual acts and one count of attempted sexual assault, after another trial at Southwark Crown Court last year. He was sentenced in September 2025 to an extended sentence of 20 years – a 15-year custodial sentence with a five-year extension for dangerousness. Mr O’Donoghue said: “Each of the (victims) was seeking a connection with someone they believed to be a young man. He was aware of that vulnerability and exploited it for his own sexual gratification.” The prosecutor said that Ahmed as a teacher had “repeated safeguarding training” and his “job was to protect young persons from harm”. A series of victim impact statements were read to the court. One girl told the court she felt “relieved” when she heard the court result, adding: “Because I now know there’s nothing he could do to me. Before this, I was terrified he would find me.” She described “always expecting the worst from people” and is now “reserved and anxious”. Another said she trusted “Miles”, which was a name used by the defendant, and “believed he was who he said he was”. He added: “I was worried about what Miles would do because he said he would come to my house.” Aqsa Hussain, defending, said her client had tried dating apps and social media because he found adult relationships difficult, adding that it was a “pathetic attempt on his part to find connection and validation”. She added that in his role as a teacher for approximately 10 years, “Ahmed did not receive any complaints of misconduct allegations and for the most part he did enjoy his job”. Ahmed pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual communication with a child, one count of meeting a child following sexual grooming, one count of taking indecent images, five counts of making indecent images, three counts of causing/inciting sexual activity, and one count of arranging commission of a child sex offence. He denied but was convicted of six counts of sexual assault, seven counts of rape, one count of blackmail, two counts of causing or inciting sexual activity and two counts of meeting a child following sexual grooming. The defendant, of Redbridge, Greater London, sat in the dock wearing a khaki jumper over a white shirt. The CPS previously said Ahmed had resigned after his arrest in May 2023.