Former record label boss convicted of abusing girls at primary school

A former record label boss who discovered Emeli Sande has been convicted of abusing two girls at a primary school.

John Ansdell, 42, preyed upon the pupils at the school in Glasgow’s West End between August 2015 and March 2020.

The classroom assistant touched the girls, aged between seven and 11, inappropriately as they played in his “office”, which was a cupboard beside the PE department.

The victims spoke about being alone with Ansdell, who also ran the after-school club, and that he had “favourite” pupils.

Ansdell’s offending came to light nearly two decades after he first discovered pop sensation Emeli Sande online.

He responded to the then-university student’s ad on Gumtree, which resulted in him recording her first tracks together with his Souljawn label.

However, he was unable to release her debut album which became Our Version of Events as he did not have the £5,000 he needed to do so.

Ansdell’s trajectory has led him to the dock at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

The court watched recorded police interviews given by the girls in 2021 when they were around 13.

The first girl said that she sat on Ansdell’s lap and stated: “It wasn’t really normal.”

She later told officers: “I was the only person in my friend group who was valued by Mr Ansdell.”

In another incident, the girl said that she was playing with something similar to a medicine ball in the office.

She said: “I remember his hand going up my legs to my bum – I think I was 11…I thought I would just keep it to myself.”

When asked how she felt, the girl replied: “I knew it was wrong, but when you are so young, you get manipulated.”

The girl stated that she went on to tell a few people about what happened to her as the Sarah Everard story had been “on my mind.”

The second girl told police in her interview that Ansdell had been “touchy” with her shoulders and back.

She recalled being on her own with him as she did not have a lot of friends in the after-school club.

The girl said: “His favourites were allowed to go in [to his office] and other children were not allowed to go in.”

She stated that Ansdell kept pictures of the children in his office from the netball team.

The recalled being touched on the bum by Ansdell.

She said: “Most of the time it would be my shoulders or maybe my back, which would lead to my hips – kind of rubbing with his hands.

“I was like sitting on his lap, and he would be rubbing my hips and my bum as well.”

The girl claimed that this lasted around five minutes but no more than ten minutes.

When asked how she felt, the girl replied: “I didn’t think about it – I didn’t care. I didn’t feel anything.”

Cullen told the court in his evidence that he could have touched one of the girls on the leg with the medicine ball.

He also stated that he may have touched the other girl on the shoulder as a way of “reassuring or comforting” her.

When asked by prosecutor Ross Canning about one of the children sitting on his lap, he replied: “Just nonsense – she said this several times.”

Mr Canning asked if the girls came to court to lie about what happened, and he said: “I can’t speak to their decision-making and thought process about saying what they said.

“I understand things can be perceived or misinterpreted, which I believe has happened.”

Ansdell later denied being “guilty of anything.”

However, he was convicted by Sheriff David Hall of the two sexual assault charges.

The sheriff told the first offender that he had committed a “gross breach of trust.”

He said: “In my view, I found both girls to be credible and reliable, and I am satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the way they described you acted is accurate.

“I did not find you credible and reliable – you were hesitant and unclear on your positions.”

The sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month.

Ansdell, of Kircudbright, Dumfries and Galloway, was put on the sex offenders register and granted bail meantime.