TWO teachers accused of sexually assaulting pupils at a private school in Kent have been sent for Crown Court trial by magistrates at Canterbury.

Timothy Baldwin , 46, of Cherry Orchard, Old Wives Lees, near Ashford, and David Dean, 57, from Totland, Isle of Wight, are jointly charged with a serious sexual assault on a boy under 16. Mr Dean faces nine more allegations of indecent assault on three boys.

All the offences are said to have happened at Vernon Holme School, Harbledown, near Canterbury - the junior school of Kent College - between 1978 and 1983.

Mr Baldwin is currently suspended from the school while Mr Dean was most recently working as a school technician on the Isle of Wight.

Both men were granted bail until their appearance at Canterbury Crown Court on a date to be fixed.