Schoolgirl, 15, tells court how crush on married teacher, 30, led to 'flirty texts, a sexual relationship... and then flight to France when affair was discovered'

Trial: Jeremy Forrest (pictured today upon his arrival at Lewes Crown Court in East Sussex), 30, pursued the 'vulnerable' pupil for months, a jury was told

A teenage girl revealed today how a crush she had with her teacher developed into a full-blown sexual relationship before they fled abroad.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told how she held hands with married Jeremy Forrest, 30, as they sat on a flight during a school trip to Los Angeles, California.
The pair then started exchanging tweets on Twitter which developed into them sending each other private messages on the website.
In a video police interview from last October played at Lewes Crown Court today, the girl said they chatted about music and school.
Rumours about the pair began to circulate, she said, resulting in the school where Forrest taught - Bishop Bell C of E in Eastbourne, East Sussex - making them block each other online.
‘After the holding hands had happened, people were getting suspicious and people were making up stories about what was going on,' she said.
The girl said in the interview: ‘I asked a friend to get his number and we began texting for all of April and all of March. The texts started off with a lot of kisses. When we first began texting, we were gradually getting more like into a relationship, and there were photos and stuff like that, and there were other text messages.
‘But we didn't start a relationship until the end of May and we decided that it was what we wanted to do. Around this time, we began to meet up outside of school. There were a few times when I would go over to his house... and after that things got even more serious.’
The girl, dressed in a black top and jeans, said suspicions were raised at school but a full investigation was not launched at that point.
‘Things stayed like that until the summer holidays when we began a sexual relationship which has been up until now,’ she added. ‘In the summer holidays, we were meeting up and texting.’
She said an investigation was launched at the school after it emerged that pictures had been sent between them. And she told how she ‘panicked’ after a visit by police and a child protection officer.
That night, September 19, following the visit by officials, she said she packed a bag and was going to leave. ‘I wanted to leave because I didn't want to face my mum when she found out.’

Allegations: Forrest (pictured in Lewes Crown Court yesterday) began to pursue the relationship when his pupil was just 14 years old while teaching at Bishop Bell Church of England School in Eastbourne, the court heard

Forrest absconded to France with the schoolgirl half his age and pursued the ‘vulnerable’ pupil for months in a ‘gross and long-term breach of trust’ before they ran away, the jury was told.
They had secret meetings at his house while his wife was out, checked into hotels together and exchanged ‘flirtatious, intimate and inappropriate’ text messages, it was alleged.

 'This is not Romeo and Juliet. 'This is a 15 year old with her own vulnerabilities and a 30-year-old teacher.'

- Prosecutor Richard Barton QC

When other teachers repeatedly warned Forrest against encouraging the girl’s ‘obvious infatuation’ he denied anything was going on, and even telephoned the teenager’s mother to complain about the effect the ‘falsehoods’ could have on his career.  
But after police were tipped off and confiscated the schoolgirl’s phone, the couple fled to France on a cross-channel ferry where they spent a week in Bordeaux trying to find work using false names, a jury was told. 
The fact that the schoolgirl was ‘undoubtedly a willing participant’ in the alleged abduction was no defence, prosecutor Richard Barton QC told the court.  
He said: ‘This is not Romeo and Juliet. This is a 15 year old with her own vulnerabilities and a 30-year-old teacher.

‘When parents send their children to school they quite properly expect those who teach their children to care for them properly. This is a case of gross and long term breach of trust.’
Forrest began to pursue the relationship when his pupil was just 14 years old while teaching at Bishop Bell Church of England School in Eastbourne, the court heard.
Forrest started having sex with the teenager around the time of her 15th birthday, the court heard.
The teenager had confided to friends at the start of 2012 that she had a crush on Forrest and during the school trip to Los Angeles in February she said she enjoyed seeing him in his trunks in the swimming pool.

 Forrest began to pursue the relationship when his pupil was just 14 years old while teaching at Bishop Bell Church of England School in Eastbourne, the court heard.

On the flight home Forrest sat next to the schoolgirl and held her hand, apparently to help calm her during turbulence. The incident sparked gossip among other pupils, and two teachers spoke to Forrest to warn him to ‘keep his distance’ from the schoolgirl.
But he started exchanging messages with her on Twitter and later gave the schoolgirl his private mobile number so that they could text each other more ‘flirtatious, intimate and inappropriate’ messages in secret, the court heard.
Pictures later found on the schoolgirl’s phone included one of Forrest, apparently taken by himself, wearing just his underpants. It was also rumoured that Forrest, a keen amateur musician, had written a song about the schoolgirl, the court heard.

Going inside: On the flight home Forrest (pictured arriving at Lewes Crown Court today) sat next to the schoolgirl and held her hand, apparently to help calm her during turbulence

Forrest also tried to block his wife from posting messages and pictures of them together referring to him as her husband on his social networking websites.
This was part of his plan to convince the schoolgirl that his marriage was a ‘hollow sham, that there were no feelings and “my wife doesn’t understand me”’, the prosecutor said.
The schoolgirl also began to turn up early to school and visit the teacher in his room at school, often with other friends to ‘provide cover’.
When confronted again by teachers about their concerns, Forrest became upset, denied the rumours and cried ‘crocodile tears’ asking why these ‘falsehoods’ were being spoken about him, the court heard.
He even telephoned the schoolgirl’s mother and in an ‘utter lie’ denied the allegations, despite the fact he was having ‘clandestine meetings’ with his pupil who had just turned 15, the prosecutor said.

'Earlier in the year, when they were in the beginnings of their relationship, they had discussed running away together but only in general and rather fanciful terms, in a sort of forbidden love. Now it seemed a more realistic and tangible possibility'.

Richard Barton QC, prosecuting

Forrest allegedly seduced the schoolgirl in his home while his wife was out. He also had sex with her in his car and checked into hotels with the 15 year old using the names Mr and Mrs Forrest, the prosecutor said.
After police were tipped off about the relationship in September, officers and social workers went to the schoolgirl’s home and spoke to her mother, who agreed to hand over her phone for analysis.
When the schoolgirl heard what had happened she immediately went to see Forrest and the pair made plans to run away.
Mr Barton said: ‘Earlier in the year, when they were in the beginnings of their relationship, they had discussed running away together but only in general and rather fanciful terms, in a sort of forbidden love. Now it seemed a more realistic and tangible possibility’.
That night the schoolgirl secretly packed a bag of belongings and took it to school with her the following day. Forrest booked ferry tickets for them both – using his name and the name of his wife – and also took his wife’s passport.
‘He thought that she and the schoolgirl looked sufficiently similar in a superficial way and she would be able to use the passport into tricking the authorities into thinking that she was Emily Forrest.’ 

Hearing: The fact that the schoolgirl was 'undoubtedly a willing participant' in the alleged abduction was no defence, prosecutor Richard Barton QC told Lewes Crown Court (file picture) in East Sussex

The schoolgirl arranged to spend the night with a friend and Forrest later turned up to pick her up looking ‘ashamed’, the court was told.
He told the girl’s friends that he was ‘very sorry that he had to take her away.’ On the way to Dover she phoned a friend and said ‘Me and Jezz are going north’ in an attempt to put anyone off their trail.
Minutes after boarding the Spirit of France ferry, Forrest sent a final text to his wife saying ‘don’t worry, I’ll call you tomorrow’ - before getting rid of his phone.
He was later pictured on the ferry’s CCTV hand-in-hand with the schoolgirl. After dumping the car in Paris, they travelled by train to Bordeaux.

'Me and Jezz are going north'
What schoolgirl allegedly said to put people off their trail

While back at home the schoolgirl’s mother received a call that would be ‘any parent’s worst nightmare’ saying that her daughter had gone missing, the court heard.
Forrest and the schoolgirl dyed their hair to help avoid detection and produced false CVs in the names of Jack Dean - a possible reference to actor James Dean - and Gemma Grant, a reference to the real surname of the schoolgirl’s favourite singer Lana Del Rey.
But after Forrest submitted his false CV to an English bar in Bordeaux the owner recognised him from online news reports and contacted Sussex Police.
After liaising with French officers, they set up a sting operation in which the bar owner offered him a trial shift, which allowed police to arrest him when he arrived.
The schoolgirl returned to Britain soon afterwards and he was later extradited home to stand trial.
Forrest, of Chislehurst Road, Petts Wood, Kent, denies child abduction. The case was adjourned to 10am tomorrow.

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