£195k fight to pay rape slur teacher’s legal bill
a heavy cost. Kato has spent his lifesavings paying legal costs for his defence and is left with a debt of £195,000.”
She added: “Kato has no hope of paying this debt. This page is set up by his friends who desperately want to help Kato rebuild his life.”
The former head of geography had been accused of raping the teenager in a classroom on three separate occasions.
Mr Harris told Isleworth Crown Court in west London that he was taking an anti-anxiety drug which caused a loss of libido and it would have been “completely impossible” for him to carry out the attacks.
The court also heard Sue Akers, a former deputy assistant commissioner at Scotland Yard, had been hired by the girl’s wealthy parents as a private investigator.
Miss Akers held meetings with serving officers about the case and met the pupil.
A close friend of Mr Harris said: “Kato has been absolutely mentally and physically crushed by the stress and it has left him financially ruined and emotionally beaten up.
“It seems so unfair a clearly innocent man has had to put himself in such a situation to clear his name for something that never happened .”
Speaking outside court after he was cleared last Monday, Mr Harris said: “It is my sincere wish that this extraordinary case does not deter people who have been victims of sexual assault from coming forward in the future.
“There is a beautiful, wonderful world out there and for 20 months I’ve been terrified of it.
“I have been hiding from it. I’m now going to walk into it a good man and a free man.”