Married teacher smeared Nutella over girl aged 14 then licked it off
A ‘TRENDY’ drama teacher who smeared Nutella over the naked body of an infatuated 14-year-old girl and then licked it off has been jailed.
Andrew Willson, then aged in his mid-20s, took the besotted budding actress out of lessons and drove her to a friend’s house, where they covered each other with the chocolate spread, a court heard.
Over the course of nearly a year, the married father of one – who befriended the teenager’s parents through a mutual interest in football – had a string of sexual liaisons with her which culminated in consensual sex.
But two decades later, the girl complained to police, and Willson was yesterday facing the loss of his 25-year teaching career, his marriage, his home and his freedom after being sentenced to 20 months in prison.
Willson was a ‘ trendy young teacher’ when he arrived at Fearns High School in Bacup, Lancashire, in the mid1990s and was popular with students, especially the girls, Burnley Crown Court was told.
The 500-pupil comprehensive – whose motto is ‘Further, faster, higher’ – was his first teaching job.
He met his victim when she was aged 13 in Year 8 and she quickly began to ‘shine at acting’, the court heard. Willson soon cast her in lead roles for plays, which involved her spending a lot of time in his company both inside and outside school, prosecutor Emma Kehoe said.
The girl described feeling ‘butterflies in her stomach’ when Willson first targeted her in his office at the school, kissing her and rubbing her over her clothing, she said.
‘She was happy and loving the attention,’ Miss Kehoe said.
‘She does not say anywhere that she was not fully co-operating with what she saw as a relationship with her teacher.’
The court heard that Willson would kiss the girl while giving her a lift home, and twice persuaded her to perform a sex act on him.
The relationship quickly escalated and Willson pulled her out of a science lesson to take her to a friend’s house. Miss Kehoe said the pair spent much of the day naked as they moved around the house.
‘The two of them had Nutella and they licked it from their naked bodies,’ she added. ‘Mr Willson was very keen that she got home to catch the school bus, though, because her parents knew nothing of what was going on.’
Willson befriended the girl’s parents over a mutual love of Leeds United FC, the court was told.
He ended the affair when the girl was 15 and he moved to a different teaching post in the South of England. Willson got away with his illicit fling for two decades until the former pupil – now in her 30s – complained to police in 2014.
Willson, now 48 and living in Hollowell, Northamptonshire, pleaded guilty to five charges of indecent assault.
Philip Holden, defending, said: ‘He accepts full responsibility and does not seek to blame the victim.
‘He feels ashamed and this has had a significant impact on his life. He has lost his job, his marriage, will shortly lose his home and probably his self-respect.
‘He is anxious as he is the main carer for his severely disabled 23-year-old son.’
Jailing Willson, Judge Jonathan Gibson told him: ‘ Your behaviour had a long-lasting negative impact on this young woman. It was an abuse of trust and there was an element of grooming from you.
‘I have given consideration as to whether the sentence could be suspended. It seems to me, given the pupil-teacher relationship, that it simply cannot be.’
Willson has also been ordered to sign the Sex Offender Register for ten years.
Detective Constable Mick Smith, of Lancashire Police, said: ‘Willson abused his position of trust as a teacher and groomed his victim before taking advantage of her while she was a pupil at the school.
‘The victim has shown enormous courage in coming forward and reporting these offences to us and I hope today’s result brings her some form of closure and enables her to move forward with her life.
‘I also hope the outcome of this case will encourage other victims to come forward and report crimes to the police safe in the knowledge that we are determined to bring those who commit sexual offences to justice, regardless of when they took place.’
‘He accepts full responsibility’