Fantasy of running away with married maths teacher, Jeremy Forrest, became real once her phone was seized, girl says
A schoolgirl has told a court how she ran away to France with her married maths teacher after their sexual relationship was discovered, dumping her schoolbag and uniform in a bin in Paris as the pair tried to avoid attention.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, first met Jeremy Forrest when she was 13 and he took her maths class at Bishop Bell school, in Eastbourne, East Sussex.
She described how a normal pupil-teacher relationship, in which she called him "sir" and he disciplined her for wearing nail varnish or non-regulation school uniform, altered as she confided personal problems to him, and they began exchanging flirtatious Twitter and text messages. Shortly after her 15th birthday the pair started having sex, Lewes crown court heard.
When police, alerted by rumours at the school, seized the girl's mobile phone – which was found to hold photographs sent by the 30-year-old teacher, including one showing him with his hands down his boxer shorts – the pair realised they were about to be discovered. The court heard that the pair fled for France the day after she was questioned by police in the presence of a child protection officer.
Speaking in a recorded video interview that was played to the jury, the girl said Forrest had feared for his job. Asked why she wanted to flee, she said: "Because I didn't want to face my mum when she found out."
Forrest faces a charge of child abduction for taking the 15-year-old to France for just over a week in September last year; most of the time was spent in a hotel in the south-west city of Bordeaux.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Richard Barton QC told the jury they should pay no heed to the fact that the girl had consented to Forrest's plan.
"This is not Romeo and Juliet," Barton said. "This is a 15-year-old girl with her own vulnerabilities, and a 30-year-old teacher. This was a gross and long-term breach of trust on the part of this defendant."
The prosecution case began on Monday but a court order barred it being reported until the schoolgirl began her evidence.
Briefly appearing on a live video link, so she could see the judge, Michael Lawson QC, but not the rest of the court or Forrest, the teenager agreed that she would answer questions after the jury had watched an interview with police recorded in October last year, shortly after her return from France.
In the recorded interview she described gradually developing a crush on Forrest, partly revealed through her handing in neater maths assignments and being less moody in class.
He appeared to reciprocate, she said, by being less harsh on disciplinary matters. The girl said: "I liked the fact he was older and mature, not a teenage boy."
She described as a turning point a school trip to Los Angeles in February 2012, during which he hugged her when she cried about a personal issue, and held her hand on the flight back. Back at school she said she began to deliberately forget things in Forrest's classroom so she could return and be alone with him. They discussed music. Other teachers saw that she was becoming "increasingly infatuated" with the teacher, the prosecutor said. Back at the school, staff urged him to keep his distance. Forrest repeatedly insisted he was taking care of the situation.
Instead, the pair started to exchange open messages on a Twitter feed devoted to his hobby as a musician; she adopted the Twitter surname Del Rey, after her favourite singer, Lana Del Rey, before switching to private tweets and then text messages. During March and April the texts "became a lot more flirty", including the part-naked photos of the teacher, and a computer-generated picture of multi-coloured hearts.
This progressed to contact outside school. Forrest would drive her around in his black Ford Fiesta, or they would meet in the grounds of the local crematorium. By early summer, just after she had turned 15, they began having sex, the prosection claimed.
"I was telling a few people at school, so the rumours were going round. But the school didn't investigate it," the girl said.
At one point Forrest phoned the girl's mother to bemoan the effect this could have on his career.
Barton said: "At this time he was having clandestine meetings with her 15-year-old daughter and was having sexual intercourse with her. It was crocodile tears."
Barton said that during the summer holidays the pair had sex at Forrest's home when his wife – to whom at this time he had been married for less than a year – was away, in his car, or hotels booked by the teacher, including one directly opposite Lewes crown court.
By the start of the new school year, the court also heard, other staff were sufficiently concerned to call police and children's services, and the girl's phone was taken away by police. It was then, the girl said, that "fantasy" chats about running away with Forrest became real. She said: "I wanted people to know [about the relationship], but obviously he would get into trouble and I would have to tell my parents about it, which I didn't want to."
On 20 September, shortly after the new school year had resumed, they took action. The girl secretly packed an overnight bag to take to school, and persuaded a friend to tell her mother they were having a sleepover. Instead, she and Forrest met at a garage before taking a Dover-to-Calais ferry booked in the name of the teacher and his wife. Forrest also took his wife's passport, Barton said, believing the schoolgirl resembled a "younger version" and could use the document if needed.
After driving overnight to Paris in Forrest's car, the girl said, she dumped her school bag and school top in a bin near the Gare du Nord. She changed into a striped top but kept on her school skirt and tights.
It was now, Barton explained, that those at home realised what had happened: "At that point the mother received the call any parent considers their nightmare: you think [your daughter] is at school, but she is not and we have no idea where she is," Barton said.
British police obtained a European arrest warrant for Forrest and circulated pictures of the pair.
They took a train to Bordeaux and booked into a hotel, dying their hair as a disguise, and turning off the TV whenever the news came on, the court heard. "We wanted to lay low but money started running out, so we decided to look for jobs," the girl said.
The court heard how they printed off false CVs, Forrest using the made-up identity of Jack Dean, an aspiring novelist, while the schoolgirl took the surname Grant, the real surname of Lana Del Rey.
Forrest looked for jobs in bars while the 15-year-old stayed in their hotel room or wandered around the shops. This was how they were discovered. The owner of an English bar saw their photos on the Guardian's website and recognised them as a man who had come seeking work and his "girlfriend".
Police asked her to invite Forrest back to the bar and they were arrested. The girl was "undoubtedly a willing participant in all that occurred", Barton said, but added that this was irrelevant. He urged the jury to consider the effect on the girl's friends and family. By using the ruse of the fake sleepover to effect the exit, he said, Forrest was "inculcating other children in the subterfuge"."
He added: "Their disappearance without informing anyone of their whereabouts led to several days and nights of anxious waiting for the girl's family, and extensive and time-consuming searches by the authorities."
Forrest, from Ringmer, near Lewes, denies one count of child abduction.
The trial continues.
Peter Walker
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.
A schoolgirl has told a court how she ran away to France with her married maths teacher after their sexual relationship was discovered, dumping her schoolbag and uniform in a bin in Paris as the pair tried to avoid attention.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, first met Jeremy Forrest when she was 13 and he took her maths class at Bishop Bell school, in Eastbourne, East Sussex.
She described how a normal pupil-teacher relationship, in which she called him "sir" and he disciplined her for wearing nail varnish or non-regulation school uniform, altered as she confided personal problems to him, and they began exchanging flirtatious Twitter and text messages. Shortly after her 15th birthday the pair started having sex, Lewes crown court heard.
When police, alerted by rumours at the school, seized the girl's mobile phone – which was found to hold photographs sent by the 30-year-old teacher, including one showing him with his hands down his boxer shorts – the pair realised they were about to be discovered. The court heard that the pair fled for France the day after she was questioned by police in the presence of a child protection officer.
Speaking in a recorded video interview that was played to the jury, the girl said Forrest had feared for his job. Asked why she wanted to flee, she said: "Because I didn't want to face my mum when she found out."
Forrest faces a charge of child abduction for taking the 15-year-old to France for just over a week in September last year; most of the time was spent in a hotel in the south-west city of Bordeaux.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Richard Barton QC told the jury they should pay no heed to the fact that the girl had consented to Forrest's plan.
"This is not Romeo and Juliet," Barton said. "This is a 15-year-old girl with her own vulnerabilities, and a 30-year-old teacher. This was a gross and long-term breach of trust on the part of this defendant."
The prosecution case began on Monday but a court order barred it being reported until the schoolgirl began her evidence.
Briefly appearing on a live video link, so she could see the judge, Michael Lawson QC, but not the rest of the court or Forrest, the teenager agreed that she would answer questions after the jury had watched an interview with police recorded in October last year, shortly after her return from France.
In the recorded interview she described gradually developing a crush on Forrest, partly revealed through her handing in neater maths assignments and being less moody in class.
He appeared to reciprocate, she said, by being less harsh on disciplinary matters. The girl said: "I liked the fact he was older and mature, not a teenage boy."
She described as a turning point a school trip to Los Angeles in February 2012, during which he hugged her when she cried about a personal issue, and held her hand on the flight back. Back at school she said she began to deliberately forget things in Forrest's classroom so she could return and be alone with him. They discussed music. Other teachers saw that she was becoming "increasingly infatuated" with the teacher, the prosecutor said. Back at the school, staff urged him to keep his distance. Forrest repeatedly insisted he was taking care of the situation.
Instead, the pair started to exchange open messages on a Twitter feed devoted to his hobby as a musician; she adopted the Twitter surname Del Rey, after her favourite singer, Lana Del Rey, before switching to private tweets and then text messages. During March and April the texts "became a lot more flirty", including the part-naked photos of the teacher, and a computer-generated picture of multi-coloured hearts.
This progressed to contact outside school. Forrest would drive her around in his black Ford Fiesta, or they would meet in the grounds of the local crematorium. By early summer, just after she had turned 15, they began having sex, the prosection claimed.
"I was telling a few people at school, so the rumours were going round. But the school didn't investigate it," the girl said.
At one point Forrest phoned the girl's mother to bemoan the effect this could have on his career.
Barton said: "At this time he was having clandestine meetings with her 15-year-old daughter and was having sexual intercourse with her. It was crocodile tears."
Barton said that during the summer holidays the pair had sex at Forrest's home when his wife – to whom at this time he had been married for less than a year – was away, in his car, or hotels booked by the teacher, including one directly opposite Lewes crown court.
By the start of the new school year, the court also heard, other staff were sufficiently concerned to call police and children's services, and the girl's phone was taken away by police. It was then, the girl said, that "fantasy" chats about running away with Forrest became real. She said: "I wanted people to know [about the relationship], but obviously he would get into trouble and I would have to tell my parents about it, which I didn't want to."
On 20 September, shortly after the new school year had resumed, they took action. The girl secretly packed an overnight bag to take to school, and persuaded a friend to tell her mother they were having a sleepover. Instead, she and Forrest met at a garage before taking a Dover-to-Calais ferry booked in the name of the teacher and his wife. Forrest also took his wife's passport, Barton said, believing the schoolgirl resembled a "younger version" and could use the document if needed.
After driving overnight to Paris in Forrest's car, the girl said, she dumped her school bag and school top in a bin near the Gare du Nord. She changed into a striped top but kept on her school skirt and tights.
It was now, Barton explained, that those at home realised what had happened: "At that point the mother received the call any parent considers their nightmare: you think [your daughter] is at school, but she is not and we have no idea where she is," Barton said.
British police obtained a European arrest warrant for Forrest and circulated pictures of the pair.
They took a train to Bordeaux and booked into a hotel, dying their hair as a disguise, and turning off the TV whenever the news came on, the court heard. "We wanted to lay low but money started running out, so we decided to look for jobs," the girl said.
The court heard how they printed off false CVs, Forrest using the made-up identity of Jack Dean, an aspiring novelist, while the schoolgirl took the surname Grant, the real surname of Lana Del Rey.
Forrest looked for jobs in bars while the 15-year-old stayed in their hotel room or wandered around the shops. This was how they were discovered. The owner of an English bar saw their photos on the Guardian's website and recognised them as a man who had come seeking work and his "girlfriend".
Police asked her to invite Forrest back to the bar and they were arrested. The girl was "undoubtedly a willing participant in all that occurred", Barton said, but added that this was irrelevant. He urged the jury to consider the effect on the girl's friends and family. By using the ruse of the fake sleepover to effect the exit, he said, Forrest was "inculcating other children in the subterfuge"."
He added: "Their disappearance without informing anyone of their whereabouts led to several days and nights of anxious waiting for the girl's family, and extensive and time-consuming searches by the authorities."
Forrest, from Ringmer, near Lewes, denies one count of child abduction.
The trial continues.
Peter Walker
guardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Reported by guardian.co.uk 1 day ago.