Kentish Express Ashford & District
Six years in jail for teacher over sex abuse of pupil
Ex-hockey captain groomed girl at school
A former Ashford Hockey Club captain who groomed and repeatedly sexually assaulted a pupil at another school has been jailed.
Carly Dear’s victim, who was subjected to five years of abuse, broke down in tears as she recalled how her childhood had been ripped away.
The 46-year-old former teacher at Brockhill Park in Hythe has now been jailed for six years at Canterbury Crown Court.
Her victim said: “When I hear her name I hate it, the thought and sound of her name makes me feel sick, it’s horrible to think another human’s name makes you feel sick, but it does. Most of the time I just feel angry.
“I feel incredibly embarrassed because I’m not very good at relationships, I find it hard to build relationships with all people.
“I no longer trust my own judgement because I trusted her and she abused me. I need to know she cannot and will not ever be able to do this again.”
Dear was visibly distressed as her victim recalled her trauma.
During a trial last year, Dear branded her victim’s accusations “a lie, sick and disgusting.”
But jurors convicted Dear of six charges of historic sexual abuse while she was a serving PE teacher at Maidstone Grammar School for Girls.
The girl told jurors how Dear plied her with sweets to groom her before groping her in changing rooms and repeatedly sexually assaulting her.
Dear would harass the girl over the phone and say “I missed you so much” when she returned from holidays.
She also told the girl she loved her repeatedly and coaxed her
back to her home in Whitstable, where she carried out progressively serious sexual acts.
After the student started university, Dear kept hounding her and travelled hundreds of miles to her campus and locked her in a hotel room in a bid to perform sexual acts.
When the girl said she was going to the police, Dear “panicked” and said she would send her about £10,000.
Judge Mark Weekes told Dear: “The effect has been unsurprisingly profound and shocking.
“Your grooming and your abuse of her took away a key part of her youth - you abused your position of trust in the most appalling fashion,” he added.
Judge Weekes added Dear, who still protests her innocence, had “no remorse or insight” into her actions.
The former Ashford women’s
hockey captain was convicted by majority of four counts of indecent assault, one count of abusing a position of trust and inciting sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 17 in October.
She was acquitted of one count of sexual assault, an allegation she touched the girl over clothes in school changing rooms.
Dear has since stopped teaching and has no wish to return, the court heard. Now, she will be subject to notification requirements indefinitely.
Nadine Chbat, defending, said Dear was of a previous good character and pointed to a number of personal references which “continue to speak of her positive character”.
Dear had been attacked and bullied in custody while on remand, with the prison moving her into less hostile accommodation, the barrister added.