By Joe Coshan and Rachael Woods

He carried out vile sex attacks in a school stationery cupboard and his 11-year-old victim still bears the emotional scars of what his teacher did.

Victim Antony Wilkinson started at Homewood School, Tenterden, in 1981 and had not been there long when a new maths teacher arrived.

Geoffrey Oborn, who is serving a seven-year prison sentence for the abuse of Antony and two girls, first singled the young boy out when he fell ill at school.

Antony Wilkinson from Tenterden tells of his abuse

Antony was sitting outside the office in the lower school when Oborn took him aside into a classroom, where instead of offering him comfort, he abused the young boy.

It was the beginning of a year-long series of attacks on Antony.

Now, at the age of 48, he has waived his right to anonymity to give a heartrending account of what he endured in the hope that it will encourage others who have suffered sexual abuse to speak out "because they will be believed".

Antony was sent on frequent errands to the stationery cupboard.

"He [Oborn] would ask me to fetch something from the cupboard and then would come in behind me and rub himself up against me and run his hands up and down my arms."

The abuse intensified: "At first he would fondle me over the trousers and then his hands went inside my trousers."

Unable to tell his parents who, although loving, were emotionally reserved, Anthony kept the abuse to himself, blanking it out.

His policeman father worked long hours, returning late to the Biddenden police house that had been their family home.

Anthony left Homewood at the age of 16 to work for local butchers E C Wilkes & Sons, before the family eventually moved to Shropshire.

His trauma resurfaced one day in the early 90s when he was working as a lab technician and details of a child sexual abuse scandal started blaring out on the firm's radio.

"I was missing work, not eating and crying a lot of the time..."- Antony Wilkinson

"As soon as I heard the story on the radio all the things that happened to me came back and began to eat away at me," said Anthony who spiralled into a deep depression. At one point he became suicidal and made preparations to hang himself.

He later grew close to Lillian who he knew through work and is now his wife. "I was missing work, not eating and crying a lot of the time," said Antony. "Lillian insisted I went to see a doctor."

It was at the surgery that the tale of the trauma he endured finally came tumbling out and Antony was referred for specialist counselling.

Lillian, 68 and Antony were married in 1996 and the pair are committed Christians. Anthony decided he would forgive his abuser, but was also encouraged by a church elder to report what happened to police to protect other children.

Tortured by the thought that Oborn could be inflicting sickening attacks on other youngsters, he looked his ex-teacher up on the directory enquiry service 192, on the pretext of organising a school reunion. Oborn's wife answered the phone to say her husband was out playing golf.

It was enough for Antony to confirm that he was still around.

At his trial in December 2017, Oborn of Wheatfield Drive, Cranbrook, then age 79, denied 13 offences of indecent assault and one of indecency with a child but was unanimously convicted by a jury.

Two girls who he had home tutored told the court what they had endured. One said he made her sit on his lap while he simulated sex, while the other told police Oborn would touch her breasts under her clothes and put his hand down her knickers.

"If just one person who has been sexually abused reads my story and asks for help it will be worth it..." Antony Wilkinson

The former teacher, who also taught at Dulwich College Preparatory School in Cranbrook, showed no emotion as he was jailed.

At Maidstone Crown Court Judge Philip Statman said the abuser had not shown "an inkling of remorse".

Antony is now seeking civil justice over the ordeal with the help of lawyers at Irwin Mitchell.

Diagnosed with depression, anxiety and PTSD, Antony said that speaking out about about his abuse helped him turn a corner.

"If just one person who has been sexually abused reads my story and asks for help it will be worth it. They will be believed like I was believed and it takes the pressure off."