A former teacher at an orthodox Jewish school in Amsterdam should be jailed for five years for sexually abusing six boys, the public prosecution department said on Wednesday.

Ephraim S, who denies the charges, is said to have carried out the assaults between 2011 and 2012 at the Cheider school in Buitenveldert on boys aged between 12 and 16.

The school authorities initially declined to press charges after holding an internal investigation and only reported the matter to police several months later after the education minister intervened.

S fled to Israel when the allegations first came to light, but was extradited to the Netherlands in 2016. He has since been held in custody.

The court heard on Monday that his behaviour first attracted attention early in 2012 when he was suspended by the school for giving inappropriate massages to children. S claimed he had ‘only touched them on the shoulders,’ but the alleged victims claimed that the contact extended to other body parts, including sexual organs.