A FORMER deputy head teacher of a Keighley primary school has been arrested on suspicion of child sexual abuse.

Stephen Loryman, 57, was detained on Sunday, November 25, in Cambodia, where he has been doing voluntary work.

Mr Loryman used to be a teacher, then deputy head at Eastwood Community School, in Lawkholme, Keighley.

The news of his arrest was confirmed on Wednesday by Cambodian police.

A detailed statement issued by Cambodia’s General Commissariat of National Police said: “The Police Department of the Anti-Trafficking and Minor Protection Department, on November 28 2018, sent a British suspect to the Phnom Penh Municipal Court to enforce legal procedures involving child prostitution under 15 years of age.”

Colonel Lal Lin, deputy director of protection for minors, said Mr Loryman had been renting a plot of land in Cambodia’s Khan Chbar Ampov district.

The colonel added: “On November 25 2018, at 12.30am, the suspect brought four boys to his rented home.

“On suspicion, the police reported [this] to deputy prosecutor Kim Jie Kim, requesting to check the rental address.

“With the co-operation of relevant authorities, police found there were four children with the suspect.

“Police followed procedures and brought the suspect, the four children, and some electronic equipment to the department for questioning.”

The police statement explains that complaints from a mother and her child, had prompted them to take action against Mr Loryman.

Cambodian police have alleged that Mr Loryman sexually assaulted and molested the children by using money and other gifts to attract them.

Their statement adds that a case against him is being prepared to be brought before Phnom Penh Municipal Court.

According to a biographical profile on the Amazon website, Mr Loryman has previously worked in Sierra Leone, in West Africa, with a Christian charity.

The charity takes volunteers to this country for short trips to help develop the local infrastructure.

In 2012 Mr Loryman self-published a fiction book called ‘The Kissy Boys’, based on the real life experiences of young boys living in Sierra Leone.