Five years for paedophile teacher who abducted teenage lover

Forrest pleaded guilty to five charges of sexual activity with a child today as he appeared at Lewes Crown Court to be sentenced for child abduction.

The 30-year-old Maths teacher, who took the pupil to France to avoid arrest, was not originally charged with sex offences for legal reasons linked to his extradition.

But he admitted the offences a day after a jury took less than two hours to convict him of child abduction yesterday following an eight-day trial.

Judge Michael Lawson QC sentenced Forrest to four and a half years for the five offences of sexual activity with a child and one year for the offence of child abduction, to run consecutively.

He told Forrest: “Your behaviour in this period has been motivated by self-interest and has hurt and damaged many people - her family, your family, staff and pupils at the school and respect for teachers everywhere.

“It has damaged you too but that was something you were prepared to risk. You now have to pay that price.”

Forrest, wearing a grey suit, white shirt and tie, showed no emotion but nodded to his family as he was taken down to the cells.

Judge Lawson also imposed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (Sopo) on Forrest banning him from working or volunteering with children and unsupervised contact with children forever.

Judge Lawson told him: “It was your duty as a teacher to stop her infatuation not to fuel it.

“Your research into what might happen to you if you were caught is proof of the deliberate nature of your behaviour.”

In court yesterday, the defendant, who remained stony-faced, turned to his victim and said: “I love you,” as the verdict was about to be announced.

The girl sobbed and said “I am sorry” as he was led back to the cells after his conviction.

Forrest befriended his “vulnerable” victim when she was just 14 .

She had just turned 15 when he started having sex with her, having groomed her for several months after she developed a crush on him at Bishop Bell C of E School in Eastbourne, East Sussex.

The girl initially turned to Forrest for help with personal problems.

The trial was told that Forrest would pick the girl up in her school uniform and they would have sex in his car, in hotels and at his marital home. The girl told a friend that they had sex up to eight times a night.

The defendant also sent the girl “indecent images” of himself showing his naked torso with his hands down his underpants. She responded with pictures of her naked breasts.

The actions of the police and the school have come under criticism.

Police were not alerted until seven months after the first concerns were raised and then when they were notified held a meeting rather than question or arrest Forrest immediately.

Teachers were first made aware of concerns about the relationship after a school trip to Los Angeles in February 2012.

They were seen by several pupils to be holding hands during the return flight.

Forrest failed to heed words of advice from senior staff members about the situation.

And despite a further warning to Forrest after inappropriate messages on Twitter were brought to the school’s attention, he was still able to continue seeing the girl.

Police were finally alerted on September 14 and four days later a joint strategy meeting was held involving them, the school and education officials.

The girl’s home was visited by a police officer and a social worker on September 19 and her mobile phone containing the indecent images was seized.

Fearing they were about to be discovered, Forrest, of Chislehurst Road, Petts Wood, Kent, booked them on a cross-Channel ferry from Dover to Calais the following day.

They spent seven days on the run in France but were caught when an British bar owner in Bordeaux contacted police after recognising Forrest when he applied for work at the bar using a bogus name.

Forrest’s family said they hoped the case would lead to a full examination of what went wrong.

They added that Forrest was “very sorry” for his actions.

His mother, Julie, brother, Tom, and sister, Carrie Hanspaul, stood on the court steps while solicitor Henrietta Ronson read their statement.

She said: “This case has been very difficult from the start for everyone involved.

“We would like to thank Jeremy’s solicitor, Phil Smith, and his entire legal team for all their support and work.

“This is a sorry episode for all concerned and Jeremy is very sorry for his actions.

“Despite the verdict and today’s sentence, there are many factors in this case which need to be examined and addressed, including the failure to properly act on early warnings.

“We sincerely hope that these are sensibly looked into and not simply swept under the carpet.”

Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac), said Forrest had been handed a “serious sentence”.

“That’s definitely saying to anybody who is put into a unique position of trust with a child that you don’t cross that boundary under any circumstances,” he said.

He went on: “He took advantage. No matter what people say, a 14-year-old child does not have the emotional maturity to embark on a relationship like this.

“This was a 30-plus qualified teacher who took advantage of the attractions of a younger girl.

“You don’t cross that boundary, you don’t go there. He went there and he is paying the price, and quite rightly too.”

He added: “People who try to blame the child is akin to saying your 16-year-old daughter who went out in a short skirt is asking to be raped. It’s not an argument.”

The court heard that following his conviction yesterday, Forrest had reconsidered his decision to fight extradition proceedings which had until now prevented him from being charged with the sexual offence charges.

The court was told that Forrest had originally only been extradited on the child abduction charge because police only had evidence of this offence at the time that he was caught in France.

Police wished to add the five specimen sexual offence charges but had to gain permission from the Bordeaux court which approved the extradition.

This changed this morning when Forrest waived his rights under the extradition treaty, enabling the charges to be laid.

A reporting restriction had prevented any publicity of these matters and was only lifted when the defendant was charged.

Judge Lawson reconvened the court as a magistrates’ court for the charges to be put to Forrest and then again as a crown court for him to enter his pleas and to be sentenced.

Ronald Jaffa, defending, said that his client had been depressed in the years prior to meeting the girl as his marriage broke down.

He said Forrest now feels ashamed at his actions which “betrayed” the trust held in him.

He said: “He feels disgusted about himself for doing that.

“He was totally wrong and he accepts it and feels deeply ashamed.”

Richard Barton, prosecuting, read a victim impact statement provided by the girl’s mother.

The court has heard that the mother has fallen out with her daughter who moved out from her home two months ago.

The girl was not in court for the sentencing hearing but had been there yesterday when Forrest was convicted.

The mother, who was sitting in the public galley, said in the statement: “I feel the (daughter) I knew is dead and it upsets me beyond words.”

She added: “I feel completely useless most of the time, I feel like I have failed as a parent as I cannot understand how someone could do this to my child and I had no idea.”

She said that her other children had suffered and they had to move home.

She continued: “I feel like the worst mother in the world, whatever anyone else says it doesn’t matter.

“Someone has got my child and I never saw it coming and never saw it as it was happening.

“I feel like part of (her) childhood has been robbed from me, the last day at school, dressing her up in a party dress for the school prom, all taken from us.”

She added: “My relationship will never be the same again, she is aiming all her anger at me, that she has to give evidence in court.

“Somehow that is all my fault, she thinks she cannot trust me again and she has gone to live elsewhere.”