TEACHER Jeremy Forrest turned to his former pupil and said "I love you" moments before a jury found him guilty of abducting her when she was just 15 years old.
Forrest, 30, was convicted following an eight-day trial where prosecutors had described him as a paedophile who had committed a gross breach of trust by starting a sexual relationship with the teenager.
As the foreman of the jury announced the verdict at Lewes Crown Court, the girl put her head in her hands and burst out crying.
Scots-born Forrest remained stony-faced on hearing the verdict, and as he was taken down to the cells, the girl said to the defendant: "I'm sorry."
The trial has heard how the pupil and Forrest first had sex after developing a crush on him at Bishop Bell Church of England School in Eastbourne, East Sussex.
Fearing they were about to be exposed, Forrest booked them on a cross-channel ferry from Dover to Calais on September 20 last year before spending seven days on the run in France.
His defence had claimed he had agreed to go to France with the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, on fearing she would commit suicide as police started to investigate rumours about the affair, which had started to circulate the school.
The school where Forrest taught has come under the spotlight before after two men linked to it were jailed for separate child sex offences.
Forrest's case has now prompted campaigners to ask why he was not suspended months earlier from the 1040-pupilschool, where he taught maths.
Authorities failed to act to end Forrest's relationship with his besotted teenage pupil despite warning signs – including public Twitter messages between the pair.
Forrest, who was married at the time, was spoken to by senior colleagues after gossip emerged he and the girl held hands on a flight from Los Angeles in February last year – seven months before they fled to France.
He denied there was anything behind the claims but more concerns were raised by staff over the following weeks.
Child abuse campaigner Marilyn Hawes, a teacher for 25 years and founder of Enough Abuse UK, criticised the authorities for not acting on the earlier warning signs.
She said the headteacher of Bishop Bell should be sacked.
Ms Hawes said: "If you are not going to spend time finding out properly what your minions are doing, then you should take the bullet.
"He runs the school and calls the shots, and he can't get away from that.
"She was a 14 and 15-year-old girl. They get crushes on teachers, it's normal, so therefore no-one is saying she's wrong but there is a line when you are educating children."
Ms Hawes added: "You can't have sloppy parameters. Someone needs to say 'I got it wrong, I apologise, I'm sorry, I should have been more diligent'."
Despite the concerns about the contact between Forrest, who was born in Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, while his father worked in the north-east of Scotland, the teacher and the girl developed their relationship via text message.
Police were alerted on September 14 about an inappropriate relationship between them, and four days later a joint strategy meeting was held with the school and education services.
However, fearing their relationship was about to be exposed, the pair fled to France.
Bishop Bell school has faced controversy over people linked to it in the past.
Canon Gordon Rideout, an former chairman of governors at the school, was jailed for 10 years in May for a historic catalogue of sex attacks on youngsters.
Bishop Bell also has close links to the Diocese of Chichester which has been rocked by a series of historic sex scandals involving clergymen.
Rideout, a 74-year-old retired ex-Anglican priest within the diocese, abused more than a dozen vulnerable girls and boys at a now closed Barnardo's home in Crawley, West Sussex, over a four-year period.
In 2009, supply teacher Robert Healy, then aged 27, was jailed for seven years at Lewes Crown Court after grooming two pupils on social networking site Bebo.
Outside the court, Detective Chief Inspector Mark Ling, who led the police investigation against Forrest, said the teacher had "grossly abused" the trust placed in him.
"As a teacher, he was in a position of responsibility, authority and trust of the children in his care, which included this 15-year-old vulnerable victim," he said. "His actions caused distress and anxiety among parents, family members and the school community."
In a statement, read by Mr Ralph, the girl's mother added: "To my family and friends, thank you. You have given me overwhelming courage, strength and love, especially during the dark days when the whereabouts of my daughter wasn't known."
Forrest will sentenced today.
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