Further On The Pupil/teacher Relationship.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2346602/Jeremy-Forrests-sister-reveals-disturbing-plans-wed-pupil-snatched-leaves-prison.html

This young girl's letter to her teacher's parents, was such a contrast from the media's and some ABers rush to condemn this pupil/teacher relationship.

This well written and constructed letter was a credit to what seems a level headed young lady, not the vulnerable child that she has been portrayed as.

Also interesting to read that the senior police officer who said of the teacher after the trial ended last week,

/// ‘He was in a position of responsibility, authority and trust over his children in his care, something parents and the wider community expect to be upheld at all costs.’ ///

It would seem that he himself didn't hold his own position of responsibility too highly.

/// The detective who led the Jeremy Forrest investigation had previously been suspended from his job for sending out racist and sexually explicit text messages to his colleagues. ///

However although he was suspended at the time, still kept his job and later put in charge this investigation.

[ummmm]

I agree with you except that the fact remains that he was her teacher. Teachers are not allowed to enter into a relationship with their pupils even if they are above the age of consent.

There is a reason for that.

[mushroom25]

mackfender, read the judges remarks here:-
http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Judgments/sentencing-remarks-hhj-lawson-qc-r-v-forrest.pdf
what aspect of "today" is the judge out of touch with?

[anotheoldgit]

jim 360

/// It seems that she has fallen out with her parents, too. Such a shame. ///

Perhaps her mother but not her natural father it seems.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2346721/Father-schoolgirl-abducted-Jeremy-Forrest-says-walk-daughter-aisle-marries-jailed-teacher.html

[mackfender]

Naomi24, Fully agree !!. Pupils have in the past and will in the future fall for their teachers. Right or wrong it will happen. Is it abduction if the girl agrees to go, according to the law , Yes. Morally, I'm not sure. This girl will probably find another partner in the next few years, who knows. The teacher, in my opinion did little wrong.

[jim360]

Yes, I saw that after posting AOG. Thanks for the clarification. I wonder why -- clearly there was something not right going on at her home, anyway.

[baza]

the teacher held a position of trust, as they say , end of. Had he been in any other job I don't think anything would have been done in the courts.
I did not say he was a paedo, and who am I to judge, my wife was eighteen and I was thirty when we married 35 years ago and still going strong.

[albaqwerty]

IF he's a peado, then she'll be too old for him when he comes out in a couple of years.
He seems to be immature and should have waited until she was no longer a pupil if they wanted to have a relationship.
I feel sorry for his wife.

[jno]

odd father, congratulating the teacher who had an affair with his 15-year-old daughter.

[jno]

alba, I feel very relieved for his wife.

[jim360]

Mack -- you're very likely right to go on about how this man is not a paedophile. But "did little wrong"?! Puh-lease. He ran away with a girl he was teaching, without telling her parents -- causing them, his family, and his then wife huge distress. Disrupted her education, too -- though it appears to be back on track. He did lots wrong.

Defend him from false accusations, by all means. But don't pretend that he is innocent. Entirely, or mostly. He's guilty at least of gross misjudgment.

[hc4361]

He's not a paedophile - the victim has gone through puberty and has the body of a young woman, not a prepubescent child.

[anotheoldgit]

baza & Peter Pedant

/// so he is just a dirty old man then ///

/// oh God he is just another dirty old git - and should tie a knot in it ! ///

Then some accuse the Daily Mail of exaggerating and sensationalism.

At only 30 he is hardly a 'DIRTY OLD MAN or 'DIRTY OLD GIT' even.

[naomi24]

I wouldn't agree that 'he did little wrong'. He was absolutely wrong. However, happy is the man who has never made a bad choice, or done something he later regretted. Retrospect is a wonderful leveller.

[mackfender]

Jim360, Ok, agree with you that he was guilty of gross misjudgement. Had he not been a teacher, I don't think that the sentence would have been as harsh. Pupils will fall for teachers again and again. 15 year old girls now aren't the same as 15 year olds 20 years ago.
Baza .. You didn't call him a paedo, you called him a dirty old man. Would you have been happy for that to have been applied to yourself ??

[THECORBYLOON]

The sentence was one year for the abduction and four-and-a-half years for the sexual offences, to run consecutively. The guidelines state the starting point for the sexual offences is four years if intercourse is involved so the judge, rather than being out of touch, is following the guidelines.

[baza]

^^^ mack, it was.

[New Judge]

“The teacher, in my opinion did little wrong.”

Apart, that is, from:

- Embarking on a sexual relationship with a girl under the age of sixteen.

- Doing so even though there is an additional law (introduced quite recently) outlawing such relationships even if the girl was above the age of consent as he was her teacher.

- Taking (or, at best going with) her to live in France.

- Doing so in the knowledge that her parents would not know whether she was dead or alive or have any idea of her whereabouts.

- Attempting to establish false identities for them both to prevent their whereabouts being discovered.

Other than that, mack, not much wrongdoing at all!

You suggest the judge is “out of touch” with modern life. Most modern parents would be mortified to lose their daughter in a way that occurred in this incident. The age of consent in the UK is sixteen. Teachers must not embark on sexual relationships with their pupils. Thirty year old men (especially teachers) must not abduct female pupils half their age - however much encouragement he receives - and attempt to prevent their parents from knowing whether they are dead or alive.

That is what the judge was in touch with. The law as it stands. Until and unless Parliament changes the various laws involved here we should expect nothing less.

[Kromovaracun]

^ Agreed.

[LazyGun]

Its rare that I find myself in agreement with NJ - but in this case, I do.

Forrest strikes me as a fantasist, flattered by the infatuation of a young girl, even though he had only been married a year? Willing to give up everything to follow the shared infatuation. And he was carrying on with this girl for about as long as he had been married, which does not say anything good about his character.

The fact that pupils have fallen for their teachers before did not excuse such a flagrant abuse of trust and responsibility then, or now.

I do not believe he is a paedophile, in the technical sense - paedophilia is a sexual obsession with pre-pubescent children. The correct technical term might be hebephilia. Whilst she might be intelligent and might be sexually mature, she is in law considered a child.

I have read the judges summation. Does not sound out of touch to me.