Former Children's TV Worker Admits Sexual Assaults

Chiswick-based David Trainer faced 14 charges dating back to the eighties

A former TV and film special effects worker who lived in Chiswick has admitted sexually assaulting boys and girls in the 1980s and 1990s.

David Trainer, 63, faced 14 charges relating to two boys and two girls during a hearing at Inner London Crown Court this Wednesday (2 August).

Trainer’s victims came forward after becoming aware of his previous trial at Inner London Crown Court in 2011 for which he received an eight year prison sentence for similar sexual offences against young girls. His four victims were aged between 7 and 13 years old at the time they were indecently assaulted and are now adults. After his release he lived in a flat on Chiswick High Road.

David Trainer

Some of the assaults were carried out at Trainer’s home on the Loughborough estate in Brixton in the eighties and nineties when children were allowed to stay with him, some at the homes of the children’s parents, and others at a folk music festival.

Trainer also worked as a photographer and once had his work exhibited alongside William Henry Fox Talbot. His documentary portrayal of London life featured in a Tate Britain exhibition in 2007 when his work showed alongside names such as Lewis Carroll, Bill Brandt and David Bailey. He also worked as a puppeteer on 1986 musical 'Little Shop of Horrors'

London Crown Prosecution Service lawyer Varinder Hayre, said: “David Trainer was a man who had worked on well-known films and children’s programmes, and as a photographer, when he manipulated these children into gratifying his sexual desires.

“He abused the trust of these children and their parents to damage lives.

“These guilty pleas will spare those victims from having to attend a trial and we thank them for supporting this prosecution.”

Trainer is due to be sentenced on 11 August at Inner London Crown Court.

August 2, 2017