A paedophile headteacher has been sentenced for using AI to generate indecent pseudo-images of children.
Dean Juric, 54, of Tynemouth, North Tyneside, was convicted of the following offences when he appeared at North Tyneside Magistrates' Court on Friday, 21st November 2025:
- One offence of distribution of an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child;
- Three offences of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a child.
He was sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday, 27th January 2026.
Juric was formerly the headteacher of St Robert of Newminster Catholic School in Washington, Tyne and Wear - an 11-18 mixed comprehensive school with around 1,600 students on roll.
Juric's crimes are described in more detail in my earlier article. Briefly, he was snared by an undercover police officer posing as the grandfather of a 7-year-old girl.
Examination of Juric's devices yielded more than 300 indecent images of children, 31 of which were of the most serious kind, Category A, depicting penetrative sexual activity. He had shared one image of what appeared to be a girl of around 14-years-old in a sexualised posed.
Juric had been in conversation with other paedophiles. When one of them asked what turned him on, the 54-year-old teacher chillingly replied "schoolgirl".
HHJ Graham Robinson, sentencing, told the disgraced educator: "You have fallen a long way from grace - many years of dedicated service to the community, now all thrown away.
"There's another side to you that is not only good, it is exemplary.
"I also note you have taken steps to deal with what you recognise is unacceptable, criminal behaviour."
In relation to Juric's prognosis, HHJ Robinson added: "I am entirely satisfied that there's not only a realistic possibility of rehabilitation, but it is a near certainty."
Juric was sentenced to eight months in custody suspended for eighteen months, with the requirement that he completes 150 hours' unpaid work and up to 40 rehabilitation activity days.
He was also made subject to a ten year sexual harm prevention order and notification requirement.
A spokesman for the Bishop Wilkinson Catholic Education Trust, which manages St Robert's, said: "Our Trust acted immediately and decisively, suspending Dean Juric upon learning of the arrest.
"He no longer has any association with our Trust.
"We extend our gratitude to Northumbria Police for their relentless pursuit of justice, their vigilance, and their unwavering resolve in bringing Dean Juric to account."
As Juric's sentence will undoubtedly raise eyebrows, I refer readers to my earlier article on suspended sentence orders.
It should also be noted that HHJ Robinson will be far better versed in the facts of this particular case than the media or armchair commentators might be.
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