Seven Chances to Stop Teacher-Pupil Affair: School Branded a 'Disgrace' As Campaigners Call for Head to Be Sacked
Daily Mail
Child protection campaigners slammed Jeremy Forrest’s school as a ‘disgrace’ and called for its head to be sacked for failing to stop his affair with a pupil. Police also came under fire for not reacting more swiftly after being finally tipped off about the relationship. The delay meant the pair were able to flee to France. The married 30-year-old’s relationship with a girl half his age was an ‘open secret’ at Bishop Bell C of E school in Eastbourne, friends of the girl claim. Teachers warned him about his behaviour with the girl seven times over seven months after being repeatedly told by her classmates about what was happening – but never reported it as a suspected crime. One teacher described the rumours as ‘crazy’ and others were more concerned about the stress they were causing Forrest and the damage they could do to his career than any risk to the schoolgirl. Even the girl mocked the school’s efforts to stop their affair, telling police after Forrest’s arrest that while teachers warned them about their behaviour, ‘they never really did a full investigation into what was going on’. And the mother of the girl told the court that although the school told her about the rumours, they ‘dismissed it as nothing to be concerned about’. It was only when a third party alerted police that detectives launched an investigation and seized the schoolgirl’s phone which held explicit photos and texts. But even then police informed teachers hours before the couple fled that they had found ‘no evidence’ anything was going on and were halting the investigation. Astonishingly it is the second time in four years a teacher at Bishop Bell has been jailed for preying on teenage girls after grooming them on a social networking site. Supply teacher Robert Healy was jailed in 2009 for sleeping with two girls aged 15 and 16. 'We remain deeply shocked by the actions of Mr Forrest and his betrayal of the trust placed in him' Terry Boatwright, Bishop Bell executive head And the school’s former chair of governors, Cannon Gordon Rideout, 74, was last month jailed for ten years for abusing 18 children before he joined Bishop Bell. Lucy Duckworth, from the campaign group See Changes, called the reaction of the school a ‘disgrace’. She said: ‘Serious questions have to be asked about what was going on.’ Miss Duckworth also criticised police for their apparent failure to fully check the schoolgirl’s phone after seizing it. ‘It is extremely worrying. As soon as the police received such serious allegations they should have gone to speak to Forrest and looked at his phone,’ she said. ‘As it is he nearly got away with it. One of the priorities of the police should be to protect children.’ Child abuse campaigner Marilyn Hawes, the founder of Enough Abuse UK, insisted the headteacher of Bishop Bell should be sacked and said: ‘If you are not going to spend time finding out properly what your minions are doing, then you should take the bullet. 'It is extremely worrying. He nearly got away with it. One of the priorities of the police should be to protect children' Lucy Duckworth, See Changes campaign group ‘He runs the school and calls the shots, and he can’t get away from that. Someone needs to say, “I got it wrong, I apologise, I’m sorry, I should have been more diligent”.’ A spokesman for East Sussex County Council confirmed the school asked for advice regarding the case but said that there was no evidence of a relationship. Terry Boatwright, executive head of Bishop Bell School, said the school only had ‘very limited anecdotal hearsay and no evidence of a relationship’. He added: ‘We remain deeply shocked by the actions of Mr Forrest and his betrayal of the trust placed in him.’ The Local Safeguarding Children Board in East Sussex has begun a serious case review into the case.
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