Too feel devastated for the wife of the teacher who has run off to France with his 15 year old pupil?

[chipsandmushypeas]

What on earth went through his head when he decided to do this?! The poor woman has taken all her social networks down out of humiliation I presume. link

Crazy.

we don't know she has nothing with her. we know she didn't take anything from home, but there are presumably shops in France and even the UK. For all anyone knows they could have bought clothes etc here or abroad - he may have credit cards his wife doesn't know about.

I imagine the reason they went to france was because it's easily accessible. They're in Croydon, Dover is about an hour's drive from there. Also it's less likely they will be found in France because tbh it's just not newsworthy in the same way it wouldn't be newsworthy here if the situation were reversed.

And tbh the only reason why it's headline news here is because he's a teacher, not for any other reason... 15 year old goes to France with 30 year old just wouldn't be newsworthy here if it weren't for his position...

but without proof there's bugger all anyone can do

Exactly. He may even be able to carry on teaching. A loved up teenager will not tell tales.

They remain missing, and the latest reports suggest they could be anywhere in Europe.

My take on this is that he is totally in the wrong; she's been seduced (grooming may not have been necessary) and they are now in some sort of mad folie à deux. I can see how a teen would get caught up in that; his motivations/actions are just incomprehensible to me.

These things must be hard for a school to investigate, to be fair. We don't know who first alerted them to a possible relationship and what evidence they had. I can understand the fact that a teacher wouldn't be suspended unless there was solid proof: if Megan's parents made a complaint but Megan and the teacher denied it totally? If one of Megan's friends told a teacher but there was nothing to go on except rumour?

I was a complete twat at her age and I had a massive crush on one teacher and flirted like a loon (even my friends thought I was an idiot). I was such a massive twat actually that I hate to think what would have happened if he had reciprocated.

Wow this thread has been an education. I had no idea that the age of consent was so low in some countries. 15 seems to be very common but in Germany, Austria and Italy it's 14 (but in Italy you can have sex at 13 as long as you are not over 16 yourself).

Absolutely doesn't detract from the abuse of power in this case and I hope there's a resolution soon.

wehre do you get croydon from? i thought it was eastbourne,

Dappydays, you are wrong.

He broke the law which states that as he is in a position of trust he is not allowed to have a relationship with someone under that trust.

He is obviously having a relationship as they have run away together and they have been pictured holding hands. That is all inappropriate behaviour.

Latest reports are now that the police were aware of the relationship last week, had interviewed them both and taken their phones. The school was working with the police, local council and Megan's parents to resolve the matter.

If this is true then I expect they both denied everything vehemently, but then realised that their phones would tell another story so ran.

:(

Thats probably why he went there Crikey
so he could get away with what is illegal here.

They almost certainly went to France because it is the nearest point of entry to Europe from the South Coast - Eastbourne for her and, in his case, a village near Lewes. There is a Newhaven to Dieppe Ferry which is only a few miles from here but the Dover crossing is quicker and taking this route meant that they could be in France before anyone would know they were missing.

I think France, itself, is a red herring. It's just the easiest place to get to from round here. By now they could be anywhere in Europe.

Also it would appear that a previous teacher at the school had been jailed for starting a sexual relationship with two pupils AND a retired Church of England priest suspended from the church following a Criminal Records Bureau check was allowed to remain as a governor, despite the school being aware of child sex allegations against him.

Blimely

bbc news here

was allowed to remain as a governor, despite the school being aware of child sex allegations against him.

That truly beggars belief.

And from the same news report a child protection campaigner wrote to the Education Secretary with concerns over the schools child protection policy some months ago.

Shit has hit the fan I think !

Hope they get Megan back soon .

quicklookbusy

There have been many other teachers that have got away with it, even going by the anecdotes on this thread alone.

Holding hands is not proof of a sexual relationship.

Do a google search on "Paul McIntyre Sleazy Teacher". He was known locally to have had inappropriate relationships with pupils. He went out drinking with 15 year olds, was pictured in the papers, one girl he had a special relationship with, he'd taught since she was 11. She denied it was sexual, though her friends at the time said otherwise, he's now head of department at another private school. He was married at the time too. The laugh is he teaches religious and moral education.

Unlike the confident interview that the local MP gave to the BBC News last night, I very much doubt that Bishop Bell School's safeguarding policies will be seen as anything other than wonting. It's not enough to have policies, per se, (and in fairness, East Sussex CC have robust inter-agency policies for safeguarding vulnerable groups) it is how you interpret them in practice that makes them effective or meaningful.

This is the third time, recently, that the school has been in the headlines for serious failures to safeguard their pupils. An unfortunate hat-trick by anyone's standards.

I think why so many teachers get away with it is out society's attitude that teenage girls are cunning and manipulative and men just can not help themselves when sex is offered. If he had run away with a boy of 15 no one would be defending him and neither should they

There may be other teachers that have got away with it but I doubt he will.

Apart from the fact he has broken the law, can you imagine any school ever employing him again after all this publicity and an international man hunt?

Sorry that was to Dappydays.

If nothing is proven against him they would have to find a good reason not to employ him or potentially face discrimination charges. He may not even be dismissed from the school he's currently employed by.

Time will tell.

Dappy, I don't know the name of the law he is breaking, but he is breaking the law concerning having inappropriate relationships with someone under his care.

How can going/taking one of his pupils away, without ensuring her parents know, anything other than inappropriate? There doesn't need to be proof of a sexual relationship, just an inappropriate one.

Even if she and he both deny sexual contact, and he can't be prosecuted for that specifically, then I still don't think he'll stand a snowball's chance in hell of ever teaching again.

There are teachers who have been suspended &/or sacked for giving pupils a lift home, with no hint of suspicion that there's been any sinister motives - so I find it extraordinary that he could stay in his job after taking one to France without parental consent.

Maybe he's planning a career as a rock star. Seems immature enough to have infantile fantasies like that.

if the parents were informed by the police of the relationship no doubt they were told not to tell at press conference.

quick

I completely agree that he's abused his position of trust and should never be allowed near a teenage girl again, let alone teach them, but all I'm saying is that stranger things have happened.

The bloke I posted about earlier was and is notorious locally and it didn't hinder his career at all.