School mistress jailed for lesbian affair with teen pupil

School mistress jailed for lesbian affair with teen pupil

Article from the London Evening Standard

Paul Cheston, Courts Correspondent

A UK public school music teacher nickanmed Jazz Lady wept today as she was jailed for 15 months for having a lesbian affair with a 15-year-old pupil.



Helen Goddard took the teenager for coffee after music lessons before their relationship developed into a five-month affair, including a weekend in Paris.

Their illict meetings remained a secret until the £13,000-a-year top London public school for girls, which cannot be named for legal reasons, received an anonymous tip-off and care workers immediately contacted the police.

When officers raided the teacher's housing estate maisonette in Greenwich they found the teenager with the 26-year-old and seized various sex toys including vibrators and "fluffy handcuffs".

Today Goddard claimed she had been "pressurised" into the affair but the victim's parents condemned her in scathing terms for the total betrayal of trust.

At Southwark Crown Court Goddard, a former child music prodigy, admitted six sample counts of sexual activity with the girl between February and July this year.

The court heard that Goddard, who played at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000, told the girl she loved her.

The affair had started when the teacher and pupil started to discuss "personal issues" together before the girl tried to kiss the older woman.

The teenager would tell her parents she was going to stay over at friends' houses when she was spenging nights with Goddard who told her housemates that the girl was a student.

Prosecutor Regina Naughton said: "Goddard was aware that this was the girl's first sexual relationship. She told her that if she was uncomfortable with anything, it would stop."

When the couple visited Paris they stayed at a hotel and went on a gay pride march together.

The affair was discovered after rumour spread through the school and an anonymous email was sent from "a concerned parent."

When police examined the girl's mobile telephone, they found one message from the teacher reading:"'It's going to be a beautiful day. I love you. You were on my mind all night."

Following the arrest, the girl told her mother that she had instigated the relationship and felt 'guilty' about the situation Goddard found herself in.

In a victim impact statement to the court, the girl's father said: "Under the guise of helping our daughter, we now understand that for five months Miss Goddard was betraying our trust.

"Miss Goddard did not stay true to her professional responsibilities. 'When our daughter told us she was going to visit or stay over with friends from her peer group, Miss Goddard cooperated fully in that deception."

Goddard was suspended from her post at the London school, and has been ordered to sign on to the sexual offenders' register for 10 years and banned from working with children for life.

Sentencing, Judge Anthony Pitts told her: "I have to approach this case on the basis that gender can make little difference to sentence."

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23746659-details/School+mistress+jailed+for+lesbian+affair+with+teen+pupil/article.do

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8266780.stm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1215023/School-teacher-jailed-15-months-lesbian-affair-teenage-pupil.html

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Teacher-Helen-Goddard-Jailed-For-15-Months-For-Having-Lesbian-Affair-With-15-Year-Old-Pupil/Article/200909315385411