Dr. John Collier: When Lilie James was murdered at an elite private school, the former principal called her killer an “absolute delight” and a “role model.” Now his grim comments about a perverted teacher have emerged

A former principal at the elite school where teacher Lilie James, 21, was murdered was criticized last week for saying her killer, Paul Thijssen, was a “role model” and an “absolute delight”.

Now Dr John Collier’s previous comments about a perverted teacher at the same Sydney school, St Andrews, have resurfaced.

In September 2015, Robert Emmett, the son of NSW Justice Arthur Emmett and the grandson of former Chief Justice Sir Laurence Street, was convicted of filming up the skirts of St Andrews students.

Four months earlier, Emmett pleaded guilty to the charges, which included filming the genitals of three 14-year-old girls.

After Emmett was arrested in 2013, Dr Collier wrote to parents saying students had been asked to ‘show compassion’ for the math teacher.

‘Whatever students think of the teacher’s conduct, which is reprehensible, they have been asked to express sympathy for the emotional devastation that (Emmett) will undoubtedly feel and, out of respect for his wife and children, to include in their comments are measured:’ wrote Doctor Collier.

“There is no evidence that this attention was paid to women in the workforce,” he added, and it “does not help to misrepresent or magnify (the alleged crimes).”

The note also said the school could help police identify three female students from footage of what it called “largely failed attempts” at illegal filming.

Dr. Collier, who is now the principal of the all-boys Shore School in North Sydney, also wrote on the St Andrews website at the time: ‘A staff member has been charged with an offense in connection with filming the legs of girls, usually in community institutions.’

But when the case went to trial in 2015, it was about much more than ‘filming girls’ legs’.

After his arrest, police seized a computer hard drive containing 9,517 images and 362 videos containing child abuse material.

His defense team said Emmett had been diagnosed with a range of ‘psychosexual problems’ – best described as complex paraphilia, with ‘voyeuristic, paedophilic, hebephilic and fetishistic features’.

Emmett’s wife, Eliza, wrote in a character reference that the facts of the case made her “sore to her stomach,” but she still believed he was a good man.

Emmett pleaded guilty to three charges of filming a person’s genitals and one charge of possessing child abuse material after police found material showing he had filmed up the skirts of three 14-year-old students.

But Emmett wasn’t jailed for his crimes; he was allowed to serve his two-year sentence in the community after being given an Intensive Corrections Order.

Judge Ian McClintock said the child abuse material before him showed a ‘disturbing and perverse exploitation of children’.

But he discovered that Emmett had become increasingly aware of the criminality of his crimes and was determined to rehabilitate himself.

The close-knit community of St Andrews Cathedral School was shocked in the aftermath of Mrs James’ death.

Water polo coach Lilie James was discovered in the gym bathroom of the exclusive St Andrew’s Cathedral School on October 25.

The 21-year-old was beaten to death with a hammer by her ex-boyfriend and colleague Thijssen, 24, after ending their whirlwind five-week relationship.

Several hours later, Thijssen called police to make a confession before plunging to his death from the cliffs above Diamond Bay in the Vaucluse, eastern suburbs.

Dr. Collier wrote in a school newsletter last week: ‘(Paul Thijssen) was, in everyone’s opinion, an absolute delight.

‘I knew him years ago as a fine student, a prefect, a role model… He was not a monster; instead, he committed a monstrous act in the last five hours of his life.”

In November 2019, Dr. Collier hit the headlines again when Year 12 girls at St Andrews’ were humiliated by being lectured about the length of their skirts.

A social media post at the time said: ‘All the boys were told to leave, the doors were closed and the girls were told that if their skirts were too (short) they had to use one of the supplied releasers to remove them to extend’.

The post showed the girls being yelled at and told to kneel on the floor to check the length of their skirts.

Dr. Collier, who was not there for the uniform check, later said this was not the case, but that girls were given the “tools” to make their skirts longer.

He said: ‘We have apologized to the girls if they felt disrespected in any way during the process.

“And we said that in the future we will find other ways to deal with it, with more time for them to respond.”

Ny Breaking Australia contacted Dr. Collier for comments.