A primary school teacher has been jailed for eight years, followed by compulsory treatment in a psychiatric clinic for the online abuse of at least 17 children.

Bas G, 45-year-old and from Vlijmen near Ben Bosch, had been a teacher at a town school for more than 20 years when he was arrested in August 2022.

The prosecutor claimed during the hearing that G called himself Jeroentje and approached children online, asking them to perform sexual acts which he then filmed. He had contact with one girl for three years and they had met and had sex several times. He had first approached her when she was 12.

She told the police about the abuse when she heard G had been questioned by police about approaching and photographing children at a naturist campsite.

A search of his computer and telephone turned up thousands of photos and a Snapchat account involving 439 children from all over the country. There is enough evidence to prove he abused 70 of them online, some of whom were as young as seven, the department said. In total, the abuse of 17 children formed the basis of the court case.

Announcing its verdict, the court said that as a primary school teacher, the accused knew better than anyone else that children are vulnerable and should have known that they are not capable of determining for themselves whether they want to perform, undergo or see sexual acts.

“The scale of this case, the large number of offences and the extent to which the accused spent years scouring the internet in search of children to entice to expose themselves under false pretences make this a case of exceptional order,” the court said.