A FORMER assistant headteacher, award-winning musician and TV documentary star has been spared an immediate jail term for sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl 11 years ago.

Gareth Ritter, 44, of Bryngwyn near Raglan, touched the girl’s bottom and forcibly kissed her at his Cardiff Bay flat, a trial at Merthyr Crown Court heard last month before he changed his plea to guilty.

The four-time Wales brass band Conductor of the Year, who featured in Channel 4 ‘s 2015 documentary Educating Cardiff about an inner city school, was given a suspended 33-month jail term for 30 months on Wednesday (November 4), placed on the Sex Offenders' Register and ordered to do 250 hours community service.

Police found intimate images of the girl on his phone

His trial heard that the offence came to light when police examined his phone and tablet in an unrelated matter and found intimate pictures of his under-18 victim.

South Wales Police officers traced her and she told them about the assault years previously, and that she had no idea how he had the images, which had been taken consensually by her boyfriend.

Ritter, who was suspended from teaching in 2024, also admitted making and distributing an indecent photograph of a child.

A “cruel assault on a young woman by an older man”

Sentencing Ritter at Cardiff Magistrates’ Court, Judge Dyfed Llion Thomas told him the attack was a "cruel assault on a young woman by an older man" and "an abuse of trust".

"She didn't want any of this sexual contact that you inflicted on her that night," he said.

"I think you targeted her... you took her to a location where you knew you would be alone."

Ritter's barrister Jenny Yeo said he was "sorry beyond words for the stress and pain he had caused", and had lost both his "long-serving" career in teaching and in music

"He has learned a very hard lesson and he assured me and the court it will never be repeated."

Suspending the jail sentence, Judge Thomas said he took into account the defendant's previous good character and the potential impact on his family.

His victim had previously told Merthyr Crown Court that Ritter was giving her a lift home from an event when he said he had to stop off at his Cardiff Bay flat.

Touched her bottom and kissed her at Bay flat

While on the balcony overlooking the city, the then 33-year-old made a comment about her breasts and then touched her bottom and kissed her before asking if she wanted to see the bedroom.

"One hand went around my back, it dropped to my bum and he lent in and kissed me," she said.

"I remember being against the wall, I couldn't step back, I remember him kissing me.

"I turned my face away, my hands were on him, I wasn't forceful, I held out my hands on his chest. It was a light push but not forceful.

“I felt really uncomfortable. I had nowhere to go”

"I felt really uncomfortable. I had nowhere to go. I found it hard to say stop and did not know how to react.

"Gareth was someone I really looked up to. How do you confront that?" she added,.

Ritter was previously music director of both the Ebbw Valley and Lydbrook brass bands, but resigned both roles after being charged.