- These included 12 counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of sexual activity with a child in a position of trust.
- Judge Rhys Rowlands described Foden as “depraved”, “arrogant”, and a “bully”.
A paedophile head teacher has been jailed for 17 years after being found guilty of sexual abuse involving four girls over a four-year period.
Neil Foden, 66, from Old Colwyn in Conwy county, was convicted of 19 charges in total.
These included 12 counts of sexual activity with a child and two counts of sexual activity with a child in a position of trust.
Sentencing took place on Monday at Mold Crown Court.
Judge Rhys Rowlands described Foden as “depraved”, “arrogant”, and a “bully”.
“A man looked up to, who was hiding a dreadful secret… an obsession with young teenage girls," he added.
Foden, who was head of one Gwynedd school and strategic head of another, was also found not guilty of one count of sexual activity with a fifth girl during his trial in May.
The teacher joined Ysgol Friars in Bangor, Gwynedd, as a deputy head in 1989, becoming headteacher in 1997.
He was also strategic head of Ysgol Dyffryn Nantlle secondary school in Penygroes.
Five girls, who cannot be identified, accused him of abuse between January 2019 and September 2023.
Across the three-and-a-half week trial, the court heard how the head teacher groomed and abused the youngsters over a four year period, in locations including his car and hotel rooms.
He was also found guilty of one count each of causing or inciting child sexual activity, attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence, sexual communication with a child, possession of indecent photographs of a child and sexual assault of a child.
During the trial, the court was shown a video of Foden holding the hand of one of the girls as she sat in the back of his car, while he was in the driver's seat.
He was arrested after she showed an adult a photo of them together and screenshots of messages about oral sex.
She also described how Foden would search for locations on Google maps, where he would take her in his car and sexually abuse her.
He would make arrangements with her by text, sending hundreds of messages a day, and would tell her he loved her.
Ceri Ellis-Jones, Senior Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “We welcome the sentence passed today and hope that this provides comfort to the victims knowing that Foden has now been brought to justice."