A former chairman of governors at a Great Dunmow school has been charged with sex offences against children.

Edward Ryan, 66, of Venmore Drive, Dunmow, is due to appear at Chelmsford Magistrates Court on Wednesday, June 8.

He was a governor at Helena Romanes School for 16 years from September 1999 until he stepped down in October 2015.

Mr Ryan has been charged with six separate offences. These include sexual touching of a girl under the age of 13, one count of making indecent images of a child and one count of possessing extreme pornographic images.

The offences are alleged to have happened while Mr Ryan was employed at a school in Harlow, which cannot be named for legal reasons.

Mr Ryan resigned from his post at Helena Romanes in October. The offences he is charged with are unconnected to the Dunmow school.

Simon Knight, Helena Romanes headteacher, told the Broadcast: “Mr Ryan resigned his role as chair of governors in October 2015, severing all links with the school from that time.

“I would like to assure parents that this matter is completely unconnected to this school.

“We take the safety and wellbeing of our pupils extremely seriously and we have robust safeguarding procedures in place. School governors never work unsupervised with students.”