A maths teacher who groomed and sexually assaulted on of his pupils in a classroom cupboard has been jailed.
Craig Hill, 46, touched the girl under a table and in a school cupboard on a number of occasions while a teacher at Hall Park Academy in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire.
The girl, who has not been named, had a ‘teenage crush’ on Mr Hill, who offered her extra tuition because she was struggling in lessons, Nottingham Crown Court heard.
She was ‘infatuated’ and ‘wanted to impress’ her teacher prosecution barrister Dawn Pritchard told the court.
Rather than discourage this, Mr Hill ‘exploited’ it, sexually assaulting her during these encounters outside normal lesson hours.
Pritchard said: ‘It started with him touching her back and then touching her leg and moving it higher up.
‘She recalled one time when they went into a cupboard at the back of the classroom and he unbuttoned his shirt and she was shocked at how hairy his chest was.’
The former teacher’s sexual offences came to light years later when the girl, now an adult, reported him to the police.
In a statement read to court, she said: ‘I feel like I have lost so much precious time and my childhood.
‘I can’t reminisce about school as every memory is tainted for me – I was a child and I was groomed by this man.
‘I have to keep reminding myself I was a child. My only responsibility was to be a child and nothing I could have done would have changed the outcome.
‘I’m worried and wary about bumping into him and will always feel this way.’
Mr Hill, of Mornington Crescent in Nuthall, Nottinghamshire, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a child, and one count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
He has now been sentenced to 32 months in prison, after appearing in court on Friday. He will also be on the sex offender register for 10 years.
Sentencing him, the judge said: ‘You were in a position of responsibility to that girl. It probably became clear to you very early on that she had some feeling for you – some teenage crush – sometimes pupils form for those who are teaching them.
‘All you had to do was kindly but firmly show her the door. The fact that you didn’t speaks volumes. It is perfectly clear that you did not discourage her in what she felt – to the contrary you exploited it.
‘You groomed her. The cupboard at the back of the classroom became your secret place with her.’
The judge added: ‘She, the infatuated child that she was with no prior sexual experience, could not begin to understand the ramifications of what was going on and the effect.
‘There is a continuing impact on that child as she still is – still the child trapped within the adult body because of what happened with you.
‘I believe now you are remorseful but whether that is remorse for others or yourself is less easy to determine.’
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