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AIBU?

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Original poster

Jeremy Forrest verdict - aibu to be confused?

999 replies

noddyboulder · 20/06/2013 14:54

Yep, I don't think even his own parents could deny he's a massive, hideous scumbag with no impulse control - but how can he have been found guilty of abduction when the girl he had an affair with said it was her idea to go to France and she went willingly?

Can somebody legal shed some light?

OP posts:
lougle · 21/06/2013 22:55

I've not said 'poor me' because I don't feel 'poor me'. I am not being 'humphy'. I'm allowed to have a view and I will have.

Cory, I see your point, but whilst we do have those emotions, most of us have first the emotion that our child will miss out.

BrawToken · 21/06/2013 22:57

If a 30 odd year old teacher groomed, had sex with then took my 15 year old daughter/his pupil to France I would want him in prison for a lot longer than 5 years.

WorrySighWorrySigh · 21/06/2013 22:59

This is proving to be one of those threads where I am wondering if some of it has come in from a parallel universe. I think a PP catches my feelings accurately. I read the judgement and I look at my own teenage DC and think that what Forrest did is one of those things you just dont do, legally, morally, professionally. Like harming kittens or something.

Then I read some posts saying 'shades of grey', 'forbidden love', 'its complicated'. How can anyone read the judge's summing up and see anything other than an abusive, self-serving predator?

scottishmummy · 21/06/2013 22:59

prom dress i read as a significant close moment denied,as they have rift maximised by Forrest
it's clearly not about the dress,more symbolic of a moment they'll not share
the adolescent and the family aren't to blame that this situation arose

scottishmummy · 21/06/2013 23:02

your tone was v poor you,wont be intimidated,inference being you're being bullied
no,your simply being pulled up on your posts
and you don't like it.so you defensively attack that you're being intimidated

runningforthebusinheels · 21/06/2013 23:05

Presumably the victim statement of the mother was meant to be from her (the mother's) point of view. She feels her daughter has been stolen from her.

Very much agree with scottishmummy.

cory · 21/06/2013 23:09

lougle Fri 21-Jun-13 22:55:13

"Cory, I see your point, but whilst we do have those emotions, most of us have first the emotion that our child will miss out."

To me, the prom dress seems symbolic of what her daughter will be missing out on: the innocent, happy looking forward to the future that a girl of this age should be able to enjoy, the memories of her last year at school, the excitement of starting out in life.

Remotecontrolduck · 21/06/2013 23:10

Has anyone seen this rather appalling development? (daily mail warning)

No idea whether this girl is being truthful (I have no reason to believe she isn't, but it is the mail), but this is evidence that he is no foolish man, he is a dirty, disgusting predator.

BegoniaBampot · 21/06/2013 23:14

Was just going to comment. Seems like other girls are coming forward with stories about unprofessional behaviour. Hopefully t might make the daily mail commenters think more deeply but I doubt it. I'm not often shocked at the mail but the comments on this have been shocking, especially the number.

lougle · 21/06/2013 23:17

If you say so, sm.

Lazyjaney · 21/06/2013 23:18

Interesting - MN by and large thinks sentence is largely correct, Twitter by and large thinks it's too high compared to comparable offences.

Remotecontrolduck · 21/06/2013 23:19

If it IS true it can only be a good thing. The girl who can't be named might start to realise she was one in a long line of many, stop waiting for him and begin to move on, hopefully.

This is a horrible case.

Lazyjaney · 21/06/2013 23:22

And I still think her parents were (maybe still are) massively negligent but everyone seems to give them sir time

Lazyjaney · 21/06/2013 23:23

Air time.

Remotecontrolduck · 21/06/2013 23:26

I think they were complacent at best, negligent at worst Lazyjaney, but there has been so much to this story I'm not entirely certain what went on. As I understand it though they were warned and yet didn't really take action properly.

OhDearNigel · 21/06/2013 23:36

There are serious issues around safeguarding at Bishop Bell Gordon Rideout was one of the governors.

runningforthebusinheels · 21/06/2013 23:38

Ok and I'm done with looking at the DM comments now! Got to the third one down where this was described as a 'loving and consensual relationship' with about 90 green arrows. FFS.

That story - and I do take the dm stories with a pinch of salt - if true shows that he was predatory - just waiting for a girl vulnerable enough to fall for his dubious 'charms.' Sickening.

scottishmummy · 21/06/2013 23:41

local authority and police will have it do a case review
chronological review,any missed events and a systemic review
Forrest not first inappropriate teacher at the school

lougle · 21/06/2013 23:45

The school can't get away without blame here. How any school could have seven conversations about inappropriate behaviour and not approach their LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer) is beyond me. Or perhaps it will emerge that they did do that. Unlikely, I think.

runningforthebusinheels · 21/06/2013 23:49

I think 'pervert teacher' is a bit harsh to be honest. She's hardly a little girl that he groomed. And how he can be found guilty of abduction when she begged him to take her to France I really don't know!

Natalie, Manchester

With 8500+ Likes. Oh yes Hmm

She is exactly a girl that he groomed.

These people badly need:

  1. Mumsnet.
  1. To acquaint themselves with the law on teacher-pupil relationships.
DuelingFanjo · 21/06/2013 23:53

You just know, thugh, that if it were their child they would be screaming from the rooftops abut paedos and perverts, suing the school and selling their stories to the press.

scottishmummy · 21/06/2013 23:53

the victim blaming,needs challenged.its appalling people minimise bs abuse
she was troubled adolescent targeted by predatory male
he was in responsible role,he should have known the right thing todo.he chose to satisfy base desires

Justfornowitwilldo · 22/06/2013 00:13

I am not a teacher and have no teaching qualifications. I have not been through the process of teacher training. I'm still fairly sure that there's something in there about not fucking pupils, especially not underage ones. That's as 'complicated' as it gets.

Don't fuck pupils.
Don't take pupils overseas to fuck/escape the consequences of it getting out that you've been fucking them.

It's not hearts and flowers. It's not eyes meeting across the classroom. It's a 30 year old educated professional, trusted to be in a pastoral role with teenage girls, who abused that role to have sex with one many times and used his wife's passport to take her out of the country.

chipmonkey · 22/06/2013 00:35

With regard to "he had her permission"

Sexual abuse of a minor aside, I am sure that if dh and I went away for the weekend, ds1 and ds2, 16 and 14, would probably give their friends *permission" to come over, maybe drink and smoke and trash the house. That would not make it legal or OK because they are children.

edam · 22/06/2013 00:46

lougle, the school has form for sexual abuse of children - one teacher, one former chair of governors. And then Forrest, with SEVEN reports of dangerous behaviour that the school leadership decided not to bother about.

I don't know whether the senior leadership team at the school are incompetent, or negligent, or something far worse, but they are clearly incapable of keeping children safe and quite happy to leave them at risk.