Former pupil of teacher Steven Lively pursues claim for indecent assaults
We have recently accepted instructions from a client to represent her in a claim for damages for the indecent assaults she suffered at the hands of her teacher Steven Lively between 1989 and 1990.
The abuse
Our client was 15 years of age, and a pupil at Trinity School in Newbury, when she was indecently assaulted by her teacher Steven Lively.
The first assault took place in the large cupboard in his classroom and the second assault took place in his head of year office. Soon after, he indecently assaulted our client on two separate occasions in his car.
The criminal investigation
A number of years later our client was approached by the police as they had reason to believe she was one of Lively’s victims. She agreed to provide the police with a statement detailing the sexual assaults Lively had subjected her to.
In total, Lively was charged with 16 counts of “indecent assault on a female”. All of these offences took place between 1989 and 1996 when he was a teacher at Trinity School in Newbury. The charges related to five different females and three out of the sixteen charges related to our client. The criminal trial took place on 16th December 2005 at Reading Crown Court and Lively was found guilty of all sixteen charges.
Judge Stanley Spence, at Reading Crown Court, said to Lively “it is clear you were a popular teacher … regrettably, you allowed your talents to be overborne by your appetite for sexual liaisons with female pupils … all of these girls were under your control and influence but you most shamefully abused your position of trust with respect to their parents and the school at which you taught.”
The Sentencing
Judge Stanley Spence told Lively that “these offences are so serious that only a custodial penalty is justified”.
On 31 January 2006 and by the Court of Appeal on 3 May 2006, Lively was sentenced to 6 years and 6 months imprisonment. He was also disqualified from working with children and was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.
Whilst the custodial sentence was welcomed by our client, sadly no sentence can reverse the harm that Lively’s assaults have caused her.
