Child-rape accused dies in crash

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A former teacher accused of 23 child sex offences has died in a car crash hours before he was due to stand trial.

Robert Stringer, 57, from Shropshire, was a teacher at a primary school in Islington, London, having previously resigned from a school in Ruislip.

He had pleaded not guilty to all the charges and was due to stand trial at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday.

The Metropolitan Police Service said he died after crashing into a bridge near Bourne End, Hertfordshire, on Sunday.

School dismissal

No other vehicle is believed to have been involved in the crash, police said.

Mr Stringer ran an after-school drama club at the school in Ruislip but resigned in 2008.

He then ran an after-school drama club at an Islington primary school but was sacked on 16 January 2009, "as a consequence of information coming to light about his previous employment", the school said.

A spokesman for Islington Council said: "The council is aware that a former employee at one of our schools was charged with a number of serious offences. None of the charges related to any Islington school."

He was due to stand trial on Monday for 23 sexual offence charges including the rape of a child under 14, on 8 February, 2009, and two charges of raping a child aged under 13, between 30 May 2007 and 31 December 2007.