John Simpson, Senior Reporter
Detectives have warned of child sex predators lurking on dating apps after a teacher at a private school used Grindr to target dozens of underage boys.
George Watkins, 31, was working at the £22,000-a year North Bridge House secondary school in Hampstead, northwest London, by day and using Grindr to track down vulnerable underage users for sex by night.
Watkins, whose victims did not include any pupils, scoured the app for users under the legal age of consent, filmed himself having sex with the boys and engaged in sex tourism. He has now been jailed for 11 years for more than a dozen child sex offences.
Officers from Scotland Yard told The News Movement that they had spoken to at least 10 victims but that Watkins had “many more”.
Detective Chief inspector Hardeep Kaur told TNM: “Watkins met predominantly young boys on the Grindr dating app and he positioned himself as someone that could be trusted.
“For a lot of these young people this was their first sexual encounter - and it was with a predator.”
A raid on his home in 2019 uncovered an external hard drive found hidden in Lego in his bedroom containing hundreds of images of child sex abuse.
His youngest victim was 14, but he persuaded a 16-year-old boy to abuse a 13-year-old on camera and he offered his victims to other adult men. Officers believe he kept videos and screenshots of chats together as “trophies”.
Searches of his devices retrieved messages in which he admitted going to Brazil because the age of consent is lower. He also targeted victims in France and around the UK and fantasised about taking a job as an au pair in Italy to an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old.
Watkins targeted “vulnerable” children with no sexual experience on the app and some boys from religious communities that made them feel they could not be open about their homosexuality.
Victims were “grotesquely abused”, one officer told TNM. He did not use protection and gave several of his victims sexually transmitted infections and took some of them to flats rented on Airbnb.
He would “relentlessly badger them in quite a manipulative sort of way, in that he would say “come and meet me, I’ll show you the way…let’s meet up for sex. He would just persist and persist and sometimes talk to them for large amounts of time,” the officer said.
Among the victims identified, many of whom declined to give evidence, were boys with mental health issues, drug problems and a history of homelessness.
The court heard in videos he requested from one victim, the boy was wearing a blue school blazer filming a sex act standing over a sleeping 13-year-old child. The victim also wore the blazer when he met Watkins for sex.
Additional evidence seen by TNM shows Watkins shared fantasies about school scenarios including detention and sexual activity with children in sports clubs.
The teacher’s secret life grooming and abusing boys was uncovered when an informant who was under 18 came forward after meeting Watkins on Grindr.
The young man attended a local police station and told officers that after some initial encounters with Watkins he had discovered that footage of them having sex had been shared online.
“They’d had some sexual encounters with Watkins. Watkins had filmed those and shared them online. They weren’t happy about that,” an officer said.
He also said Watkins had sent messages on Grindr which showed that he had an attraction to underage males and they were concerned he was a danger to young people.
Police hailed that young man as a hero and said that Watkins might still be offending had he not been brave enough to come forward.
Officers searched his most recent address in July 2019 but he had moved. It was during local enquiries after that warrant that they learnt he was a teacher. Watkins was quietly arrested at the school and has not returned to work since.
One young victim, who was 14 at the time of the offences, said: “The fact that he used me for his own sexual gratification and did not seem to care about how I was doing at the time has made me feel used and exploited, and sub-human, as if my opinion did not matter at all.”
Another, who was 16, said: “When I reflect upon what Watkins did to me, and the fact a paedophile who was in a position of trust exploited me during a vulnerable moment of my life, I feel completely used and taken advantage of. I feel physically sick just thinking about it.”
Watkins, who was living with family in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, was jailed on October 13, 2023, for 11 years. He had pleaded guilty at Wood Green crown court on January 25 after having previously been convicted of possessing images of child sex abuse at the same court in August 2021.
DCI Kaur added: “These were young people that hadn’t had sexual experience before and weren’t actually out to their families and friends and they were online looking for a bit of direction and Wakins exploited that.
“He targeted young people that were vulnerable, especially young boys that were vulnerable. He had a type in that he liked those that were under 16 quite, small in body features, quite slight - quite naive, I would say because they hadn’t had any previous sexual encounters.
In a message to potential victims, she said: “If you have been affected by Watkins or anyone else please speak to the police or speak to someone you trust. We will listen to you and we will support you through the process.”
Watkins admitted 19 sexual offences against children including seven counts of sexual activity with a child, three counts of causing or inciting sexual activity with a child and one count of sexual communications with a child.
In a statement, North Bridge House school said: “No children at North Bridge House Senior Hampstead were involved, but we were nevertheless shocked to learn of this disturbing case. Our thoughts are with those directly affected and we applaud them for having had the courage to speak out.
They added that staff undergo “the highest standard of recruitment checks” and that they acted swiftly in this case.
Signing up for the apps Reporters for TNM tested the age verification process on Grindr, Hinge, Tinder and Bumble - the most popular dating apps in the UK. We found that all of them used a tick-box process that would do nothing to stop underage users accessing the apps.
The News Movement approached all the apps for comment. Grindr failed to respond to multiple requests over the course of two months.
The other apps did not respond but it is understood that Match Group, which owns Tinder and Hinge uses AI and other technology to try to spot underage profiles. All four platforms also have an opt-in profile verification process.