Former teacher Richard Douglas was jailed for 18 months yesterday for a series of sex offences against one of his pupils.

Douglas, 33, was convicted in July of sexually exploiting an 11-year-old boy at the Bermuda Institute in late 1993.

Passing sentence, Chief Justice Austin Ward said: "A message must be sent to teachers that sexual exploitation of a youngster submitted to their care will lead to a term of imprisonment.'' He also recommended that Douglas receive psychological treatment in prison.

The accused, who quit the Southampton Seventh Day Adventist school in early 1994, maintained his innocence to the end.

Appealing to the judge, he said the evidence against him had not been corroborated.

He added: "If that's the case, why waste the court's time or the taxpayer's money by having a court system? "You are guilty until proven innocent. Even the Russians believe you are innocent until proven guilty. It doesn't seem to be the case here.'' Douglas was found guilty by a 9-3 majority verdict on two sex charges.

He was convicted of touching the youngster for a sexual purpose between October and December, 1993.

He was also found to have invited the boy to touch him for a sexual purpose between the same dates.

During the trial, the jury heard the boy, now 16, was moved to the back of the classroom to sit next to the teacher.

The pupil said Douglas began to scratch his thighs in a circle, and after several days began touching the boy's penis through his pants.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the teacher asked him to deny the allegations after the school began investigating.

But Douglas' lawyer, Archie Warner, called the school's board chairman as a character witness for his client.

Pastor Carlyle Simmons told the court he would no longer accept Douglas as a teacher.

He added: "There's always a redemptive element to situations in life and it would be our recommendation that he would have to work with his peers now -- we would not encourage him to have authority or leadership over young people.

"But we found him as a teacher to be very effective and we found that he had a very positive influence on the children he had in his class.'' Pastor Simmons revealed his own son was a pupil in Douglas' class.

But Crown Counsel Sandra Bacchus, prosecuting, told the judge: "What you have before you is a gross breach of trust.

"Parents expect that when they send their kids to school, they will be safe in the classroom with their teacher.

"The nature of the touching in this case was persistent, it wasn't isolated.

And in the Crown's submission, the touching escalated over a period of time to the point where there was arousal.

"This is a significant violation of the sexual integrity of a young boy. It is also aggravated because there appears to be no remorse.'' Mr. Warner asked Mr. Justice Ward to consider a suspended sentence, saying his client could not express remorse because he insisted he was not guilty.

He added: "In the teaching profession, Mr. Douglas for all intents and purposes is finished.

"That in itself, My Lord, is a severe penalty -- especially in a small community like Bermuda.'' Before being sent down, Douglas apologised to his own parents, the parents of his victim and to the boy, saying: "I pray that he is able to recover sufficiently from whatever the situation is.''