It's as if the daughter I knew is dead, says kidnap girl's mother as topless pictures which teacher sent to schoolgirl lover are revealed

The mother of the girl abducted by Jeremy Forrest said she was grieving  because the daughter she knew ‘had died’.
She sat in the public gallery yesterday as her harrowing victim impact statement describing the breakdown of their relationship was read to the court sentencing the teacher.
In it, she said her relationship with the girl would ‘never be the same again’.
She added: ‘I feel like the daughter I know has died and I’m grieving for her and it upsets me beyond words. I feel completely useless most of the time.

Topless: Jeremy Forrest took images on a mobile phone of himself and sent to the 15-year-old he had a sexual relationship with before abducting her

‘I feel I have failed as a parent. I can’t understand how someone could do this to my child and I had no idea.

‘I feel like the worst mother in the world, whatever anyone else says it doesn’t matter. That is how I feel.

‘Someone got to my child. I never saw it coming or saw it once it was happening.

‘I feel like part of my daughter’s childhood has been stolen from me.

‘She has aimed all her anger at me that she has to give evidence and attend court.

‘Somehow that is all my fault and she feels she cannot trust me and she has gone to live elsewhere.’

The schoolgirl and her mother sat apart and completely ignored each other on the day the sobbing teenager gave evidence.

Now 16, the girl has used Twitter to say she will wait for Forrest’s release from prison.

In January she said ‘I’ll always be waiting for you’ and shortly before the trial she posted: ‘After all this time, I’m still into you’. 

HER STATEMENT TO THE COURT: GIRL'S MOTHER REVEALS HER ANGUISH

I feel completely useless most of the time. I feel I have failed as a parent. Can’t understand how someone could do this to my child and I had no idea.
I feel like the worst mother in the world, whatever anyone else says it doesn’t matter. That is how I feel.
Someone got to my child. I never saw it coming or saw it once it was happening.
I feel like part of [my daughter’s] childhood has been stolen from me. I missed her last day at school, dressing her in her party dress and seeing her off to the prom has all been taken from us.
My relationship with her will never be the same again. She has aimed all her anger at me that she has to give evidence and attend court. Somehow that is all my fault and she feels she cannot trust me and she has gone to live elsewhere.
I feel like the [daughter] I know has died and I’m grieving for her and it upsets me beyond words.

Mobile phone: Forrest was today sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail for the abduction of the 15-year-old

When a Twitter user asked her on Tuesday whether she wanted their relationship to resume, she replied: ‘Can’t talk about that until after the trial, sorry.’

She also used the social networking service to criticise the prosecution at Forrest’s trial for saying her relationship with him was ‘not a case of Romeo and Juliet’.

She said: ‘Of course it’s not! That’s a tragedy and they both f***ing died. How moronic.’

She also disputed a court claim that she and Forrest had sex up to eight times a night: ‘That is  completely misconstrued. I’m not sure who’d have the stamina!’

She later added: ‘Honestly don’t know whether to laugh or cry.’ The court also heard allegations of illicit communication between Forrest and the girl that may have allowed her to change her evidence.

In a police interview following her return to Britain, the girl suggested they had agreed to flee to France last September after detectives had seized her phone containing intimate pictures of them.

But, giving evidence during the trial, she told the court she had effectively persuaded the teacher to accompany her, amid concerns she might kill herself if he did not.

Off to prison: Jeremy Forrest is led out of Lewes Crown Court in East Sussex after he was jailed for five and a half years. His victim's mother said today his crimes took her daughter away

Sombre: As he considers the fact he will not be released for some time, Jeremy Forrest is pictured sitting in his prison van

Richard Barton, prosecuting, told the court there was ‘material that indicates communication through a known third party and the police are aware of that’.

Judge Michael Lawson QC said: ‘It may be a matter that should be looked into.’

Passing sentence, the judge told Forrest: ‘You have contested the abduction charge raising a spurious defence, so that she had to give evidence, evidence very different in content from her original account and designed to support it.

‘She had clearly received assistance in relation to what she should say.’

A Sussex Police spokesman said: ‘Before the judge made his comments in court today the matter had been raised with Sussex Police and this is being looked into. We will release more information when it becomes available.’

Forrest’s sister sprang to his defence yesterday.
Carrie Hanspaul, who is a mother of three, said: ‘We always have been and will be behind him 100 per cent. His relationship with the girl has been totally misconstrued. He has been misunderstood.’

Change: Jeremy looked very serious as he was guided into a prison van this afternoon

Caught on camera: Forrest and the girl aboard a ferry from Dover to Calais last September, and she clearly still has feelings for him despite his abduction conviction

She described the case as a ‘sorry episode for all concerned’, saying Forrest was ‘very sorry for his actions’.
She also said the family hoped the failure to stop the relationship would be investigated.

‘Despite the verdict and today’s sentence, there are many factors in this case which need to be examined and addressed, including the failure to properly act on early warnings,’ she added. ‘We sincerely hope that these are sensibly looked into and not simply swept under the carpet.’

Mrs Hanspaul had wept in court as her character reference for her brother was read out.

She said: ‘He’s very good natured and extremely mild mannered,’ claiming depression may have contributed to his behaviour.

She added: ‘Jeremy had been in a very difficult relationship for the last six years but didn’t want to worry anybody, especially our parents, with his problems. Instead he withdrew more and more and I believe he became more and more depressed.’

Mrs Hanspaul and Forrest’s parents, Jim and Julie, had attended every day of the trial.

His father had to be taken to hospital after collapsing outside the court before the verdict on Thursday and missed yesterday’s sentencing.

Family: Solicitor Harriette Ronson, reads a statement on behalf of Julie Forrest (second right), mother of Jeremy Forrest, who is standing with her son Tom (right) and daughter Carrie (second left), outside Lewes Crown Court

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