Runaway teacher 'had sex with pupil eight times a night' as she tells jury: He only took me away because he feared I would kill myself
- Teacher Jeremy Forrest, 30, accused of abducting schoolgirl, then 15
- Schoolgirl said they had sex up to eight times a night and in his car
- Girl says that Forrest repeatedly asked her to return home but she refused
- Student feared what she would do to herself if Jeremy Forrest refused to run away to France with her
- Forrest 'was in tears as they drove to France' and said it 'wouldn't end well'
By TOM KELLY PUBLISHED: 13:34 GMT, 17 June 2013 | UPDATED: 14:13 GMT, 18 June 2013
Runaway teacher Jeremy Forrest had sex with his schoolgirl lover up to eight times a night, a court heard yesterday.The married 30-year-old had a four-month affair with his pupil before she persuaded him to flee to France with her amid fears she might kill herself. Before they absconded the maths master seduced the 15-year-old in his car while she was wearing her school uniform, Lewes Crown Court was told.
Jeremy Forrest, pictured arriving at court today, asked the schoolgirl to return home and was in tears as they drove to France, the girl said
Forrest had also sent her ‘graphic’ and cringe-making text messages, it was claimed. During a police interview played to the court, a friend of the girl said the teenager had told her she had slept with Forrest in his car, home and at hotels, often without contraception. ‘She said they had sex multiple times in one night. It was seven or eight times,’ said the girl.The friend said the teenager was often wearing her school uniform –which consisted of a navy polo, knee length black skirt, black tights and black Vans shoes – during the encounters as Forrest used to meet her straight after class.The friend said that at the start of the relationship Forrest sent compliments to the girl such as ‘You’re beautiful’. As it progressed the messages became more explicit, she said. ‘There were some sexual ones, they were quite graphic things, it’s really like cringey stuff.
The schoolgirl told Lewes Crown Court that she was having personal problems at home and was 'determined' to run away
Jeremy Forrest leaves Lewes Crown Court after the sixth day of his trial
‘I think she kind of liked it, so she did play along with it, she said the same sort of things back to him.‘I do not remember exactly what she said but she said, “Imagine me doing this to you” or something like that.’The couple spent eight days on the run before Forrest was arrested with her in Bordeaux last September. He has denied a charge of child abduction.
The couple, who have not met since they were found, smiled at each other across the courtroom yesterday as the teenager, now 16, took to the witness box, having declined an offer to give evidence via video link.She told the jury that before the pair fled she had felt suicidal, fearing their relationship was about to be exposed.A day earlier police had confiscated her phone after being tipped off as rumours of the relationship swirled around Bishop Bell C of E School in Eastbourne, East Sussex.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said Forrest tried to ‘persuade me not to run away’ and only came with her because she was ‘insistent’ and he feared for her safety.The girl said that as Forrest drove her to Dover to board a cross-channel ferry to Calais he seemed ‘very worried and very emotional’.
She said: ‘I don’t think he wanted to take me anywhere. I was insistent.‘I was very determined and once I had an idea in my head nobody was going to stop me, not Jeremy, not anybody. I was adamant we had to go otherwise I feared what would happen.’ Forrest was aware she had suffered from an eating disorder, self-harming and was having problems at home, the court heard.The teenager said: ‘He was concerned that if I went on my own I would be in danger so he said it would be a better idea if he came with me.
Former maths teacher Jeremy Forrest, 30, who taught at the Eastbourne school, denies one count of child abduction
Jeremy Forrest allegedly had sex with the girl up to eight times a night
‘I was very pleased. If Jeremy said he was not coming with me I dread to think what situation I would be in then.‘He said to me, “this isn’t going to end very well but if you are insisting things could happen to you as a result we have to go”.’Under cross examination by defence counsel Ronald Jaffa, the girl admitted she had felt suicidal at the time.She said: ‘It was one of those times I was feeling very low indeed and I was very desperate. And when I’m desperate those are the kind of things I do.’The teenager said that after they fled, Forrest repeatedly asked her to return home but she refused.
She added: ‘He was saying “I can’t go back”. He was now stuck in the position.’The girl told the court she had ‘instigated’ the relationship with Forrest, which began following a school trip to Los Angeles the previous February.Forrest had comforted her after learning of her personal problems.The girl said her mother, who was pregnant with her fifth child at the time and had just left her stepfather, did not believe she had a problem. As she left the court the teenager smiled again at Forrest who rested his head on the front of the dock.The case continues.
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