A former headteacher has pleaded guilty to making and distributing indecent artificial intelligence-generated (AI) images of children including teenage girls wearing school uniform.
Dean Juric, who led St Robert of Newminster School in Washington, Sunderland, at the time of his arrest in January, made “pseudo” images and videos showing girls as young as 12 in sexual poses, North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court heard.
The court was told he was caught by an undercover detective posing as a 58-year-old grandfather with a seven-year-old step-granddaughter.
The prosecution said his position as a headteacher had been an “aggravating factor”.
Juric communicated with the undercover police officer – and others – on the messaging app Kik.
The court heard he sent the detective an AI-generated image of a teenage girl wearing school uniform who looked about 15 years old, and other images of girls looking aged 12 and 13.
Juric also sent the undercover detective videos of young teenage girls, which the court heard were Category A – the most severe form of child sex abuse imagery.
There was no suggestion any of the children in the images were pupils at his secondary school or bore a likeness to any child at the school.
Juric was arrested on 17 January and found to be in possession of 380 illegal images including 31 Category A images.
Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust, which runs St Robert of Newminster School, said it “immediately suspended” Juric on learning that he was under police investigation and he no longer worked at the school or was employed by the trust.
The trust said it understood the charges did not relate to any school or individual in the whole trust and said its priority was to ensure all pupils and families felt “safe, supported and informed”.
Juric admitted three counts of making “pseudo” indecent photographs of children and one count of distributing indecent photographs of children.
He will be sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on 22 December.
