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The Daily Dazzling Dawn can exclusively report that a Nottingham secondary school is now subject to an urgent independent safeguarding review, following the jailing of former French teacher Patrick Thomas – previously known as Josh Mills-Afford – for sexual relationships with two pupils. The 37-year-old father of one, of Blake Road, West Bridgford, was sentenced to 22 months at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday, but newly verified information obtained by this publication reveals that the full scale of institutional oversight is only now being scrutinised.
While the court heard how Thomas kissed one teenager in a classroom cupboard after she tried to end their brief relationship, and how he requested naked images from the second victim during a separate school trip years earlier, a senior source close to the investigation told the Daily Dazzling Dawn that at least two other former pupils have since come forward with disclosures relating to the same period. Those disclosures are now being assessed by Nottinghamshire Police’s child protection team, though no further arrests have been made.
Crucially, the court was not told that the school had received an informal warning from a local authority safeguarding lead 18 months before the first victim reported Thomas, after a separate concern was raised about his conduct on a residential trip. That warning, which did not trigger a formal investigation at the time, is now a central piece of evidence in the new independent review. A spokesperson for the school declined to comment on what they termed “ongoing personnel matters” but confirmed to the Daily Dazzling Dawn that “all current safeguarding protocols have been externally audited.”
Thomas, who now uses the surname of a distant relative, pleaded guilty to 11 charges of sexual activity with a girl while being an adult and abusing his position of trust, plus one count of possession of an indecent image of a child. He has no previous convictions. His marriage collapsed after the news became public, and he will never teach again, the court heard.
In their own impact statements, both victims spoke of lasting psychological harm. One said: “I was in constant fear about what was happening but I did not want to get him into any trouble. Before all this I was a happy girl with good grades. After, I became a mess. I felt stupid and naive.” The other told how she was “manipulated into believing what was normal” and lied to family and friends to protect him. Both statements were read aloud in full.
What has not previously been reported is that both victims have now instructed a specialist education law firm to explore whether the school or local authority could face civil liability for failing to act on earlier warning signs. The firm told the Daily Dazzling Dawn that a pre-action letter is being drafted, focusing on “systematic failures to supervise and respond to low-level concerns.” No claim has yet been filed.
Judge Mark Watson, sentencing, rejected the defence’s argument that the behaviour did not amount to grooming, stating: “You knew this was something you could get away with. The girls might have been over the age of consent but they were not equipped to deal with a relationship so one-sided in terms of the power dynamics.” He added that Thomas’s abuse was a “breach of the trust placed in you when you taught.”
Simon Eckersley, mitigating, told the court that Thomas’s life had been destroyed. “Since these matters became public, his marriage has ended, his career is finished, and he will never set foot in a classroom again.”
What happens next: The independent safeguarding review is expected to report within 12 weeks to the local authority’s children’s services committee. Sources indicate that the review will examine whether the school’s trip supervision policy was knowingly breached on multiple occasions. Separately, the Teaching Regulation Agency has confirmed to the Daily Dazzling Dawn that a prohibition order is being fast-tracked, which will permanently bar Thomas from teaching in any state or independent school. A hearing is listed for late June.
The Crown Prosecution Service has also confirmed that no appeal against the length of the sentence has been lodged by the prosecution, but the Attorney General’s office has received a formal request from a victim’s family to consider the case under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. That request remains under initial review.
Police have urged any other potential victims to come forward, stressing that investigative time limits do not apply to cases of abuse of trust. For now, the school has placed all trip staff on updated safeguarding training, and classroom cupboards across the site have been refitted with internal unlocking mechanisms as a direct precautionary measure.
