A TEACHER has admitted 23 child sex charges, including the abuse of two primary school boys.

Richard Arthur Oldham, 31, who has taught at three York primary schools, was immediately told he would be banned from working with children and that he would face a prison term when he is sentenced next month.

He showed no emotion as he admitted his guilt at Leeds Crown Court in front of members of his family who sat in the public gallery.

Earlier, his barrister Alisdair Williamson said: “He faces a step into the abyss”. He asked the judge for guidance on the sentence he would receive.

The recorder of Leeds, Peter Collier QC, said the sexual assaults would “inevitably lead to a sentence of immediate custody”.

Oldham, now living in North Tamerton, Holsworthy, Devon, then entered guilty pleas to three charges of voyeurism, which alleged he filmed children privately so he could watch the films for his own gratification between April 30, 2004 and August, 31, 2006; 13 charges of making indecent images of children between August 31, 2006 and August 29, 2012; possessing 2,076 sexual images of children on September 20, 2012; three sexual assaults on one pupil during the 2010/2011 academic year, and three sexual assaults on a second pupil between September 2 and September 17 last year.

He was released on bail while probation officers prepare a report on him and will be sentenced in September.

On that occasion, the judge will decide if he should be subject to a sexual offences prevention restricting his activities in the future.

Before he left court, Oldham had to sign the sex offenders’ register and was told his guilty pleas mean he will be banned from ever working with children again.

His bail conditions include staying out of York, not getting travel documents to leave the UK, an eight-hour curfew, reporting three times a week to the police and having no unsupervised contact with children.