Schoolgirl tells court Jeremy Forrest was willing to take risks of sexual affair
Teacher on trial on charge of abducting pupil and taking her to France, after alleged physical relationship while at school
Peter Walker
The Guardian, Wednesday 12 June 2013 19.29 BST
Jeremy Forrest, 30, at Lewes crown court, where he is on trial, accused of abducting a pupil. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
A married maths teacher accused of running away to France with a 15-year-old pupil looked up on the internet how long he might be jailed for having sex with a child, the girl has told a court.
The schoolgirl, now 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Jeremy Forrest told her that beginning a sexual relationship was "a risk he was willing to take".
She said: "He did look up how many years he would be in prison, not for taking me to France but what had previously happened, and he told me that."
In evidence to Lewes crown court, given via a recorded interview with police, the girl recounted that while their first kiss, inside a classroom at Bishop Bell school in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was at the prompting of the teacher they fled to France largely at her instigation.
Forrest, 30, is accused of child abduction over their near-eight day flight to Paris and then Bordeaux last September, which prompted an international police hunt. The court has heard he began teaching the schoolgirl when she was 13, and mutual flirtation led to a sexual relationship beginning shortly after her 15th birthday.
Following increasingly intimate tweets and texts, the girl recounted being in his room at the school when she was still 14. She said: "I do remember being in his room and it was just me and him. He said 'I really want to kiss you' and I said 'I really want to'. It got to the point where there was only so much of a friendship you could have before it developed into something else."
The intimacy increased to sex around two months later, the girl said in the interview, recorded shortly after she returned to the UK. Venues included the spare room of Forrest's house, at a Premier Inn hotel and in his Ford Fiesta.
Forrest, who at the time had been married for less than a year, was aware he was breaking the law, she said: "It was what I wanted to do because of how much I liked him. I didn't give it a second thought. Obviously I was worried about it and I spoke to my friends about it."
She added: "He knew he would go to prison, lose his job and not work with children again, so he was aware and that made me feel better."
The court has heard that numerous rumours about the pair led to police and child protection officers visiting the girl at her home, and taking away her mobile phone on which there were intimate photos sent by her teacher. They left the next day.
While they had talked about escape before in a "jokey" sense, the idea to head for Dover in Forrest's Ford Fiesta was "kind of my suggestion", the girl said, adding that she encouraged Forrest.
The pair were arrested in Bordeaux after the owner of a bar saw their photos on the Guardian website and recognised Forrest, who had asked about work. As they were separated in the street by French officers, the girl said, they mouthed "I love you" at each other.
The prosecution barrister, Richard Barton QC, has argued to the jury that the girl's consent made no difference to the offence, given her age at the time.
In the interview the girl said the age gap was rarely discussed: "It didn't really seem to bother him either. Sometimes I'd just have this weird realisation, like 'Oh my God, you're double my age'."
Forrest, from Petts Wood, Kent, denies one count of child abduction.
The trial continues.
