SCHOOL GOVERNOR JAILED FOR SEX WITH GIRL PUPIL,16

IN THIS WEEK’S WEEKENDWEEKEND

JAILED: David Thomas ( had protected sex with teen while his marriage broke up A SCHOOL governor has been jailed after admitting having sex with a pupil who had a crush on him.

David Thomas Scott, who was also a student support worker at the York secondary school where he worked, started seeing the girl when she was 15 and had sex with her when she turned 16.

Sentencing Scott to 12 months in prison, Judge Rodney Jameson QC said: “I am jailing you to indicate the crucial importance for those in roles of responsibility in relation to young people to withstand temptation and not to offend in this way.

“The degree of trust reposed in you was of a very high order.

“Pupils of any school require protection from the crushes they may develop towards teachers at their school.”

Scott was 33 when he kissed and cuddled the 15-year-old girl in his car and, immediately after she turned 16, had protected sex with her at his home and at a Manchester hotel, said Abigail Langford, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

She had developed a “crush” on him and for months he had ignored her attempts to engage in conversation via social media.

But eventually he met her away from the school and they started their sexual relationship. Neither the girl, nor her mother, wanted him to be jailed, said Ms Langford.

Defence solicitor advocate Lee-Anne Robins-Hicks handed in dozens of testimonials from former pupils, their parents and other members of staff, in his support.

Scott, from York, pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual activity with a girl while in a position of trust.

Mrs Robins-Hicks said he had resigned from the school where he had worked for eight years and now worked in a completely different field.

In addition to the jail sentence, Scott was forbidden to have any contact with the girl indefinitely under a sexual harm prevention order and put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.

Ms Langford said Scott started work at the school as a teaching assistant in 2006 and by 2012 had risen to the role of leading student support worker.

He had also been elected by fellow staff members as a staff governor and sat on a school development committee.

Mrs Robins-Hicks said Scott was remorseful and regretted his actions. He had been emotionally vulnerable when he agreed to meet the girl because his marriage was breaking up at the time.