In the UK, a married Maths teacher at Max Clifford's former school has been jailed for five years for groping a 15-year-old pupil in his car.
'Rising star' Paul Shorter, 32, blamed his actions on the pressures of an upcoming Ofsted inspection, during sentencing at Guildford Crown Court.
He had been working night and day to turn around his troubled department when he began grooming the schoolgirl because he 'could not cope' with the stress of his job, a judge was told.
The high-flying teacher sent flirty emails to the teenager from his school email address before embarking on a series of liaisons with her including groping her in his car and kissing her at school.
Tall and slim and wearing a fitted blue shirt and tie, Shorter was sentenced today after admitting having an affair with the girl.
He sobbed and waved to his pregnant wife - who is expecting their first child later this month - as he was led back down to the cells.
The court heard how the pair had met because Shorter was a teacher at Rydens School in Hersham, Surrey, which counts Manchester United and England left back Luke Shaw amongst its former pupils.
The pair would discuss their common interests including dance and music, and on one occasion Shorter reached under her skirt whilst playing her a dance video.
On another occasion he drove her home and parked his car up outside her home, before touching her breasts and putting his hand under her underwear.
Their affair was uncovered after the girl's mother came across racey messages from Shorter on her computer and called the police.
Prosecuting, Simon Connolly said the teenager maintains she never wanted a sexual relationship with Shorter, but admitted that she did not make this clear to him and that he thought she was 'enjoying herself.'
He added: ''She openly described considering him to be good looking, and saying she like many other girls in the class had kind of a crush on him.'
In a victim impact statement read to the court the teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, recalled how she stormed out of class the first time Shorter assaulted her.
She said his sexual interest in her had left her 'confused' and not knowing how to react, and that the stress of what had happened to her was affecting her preparation for upcoming exams.
The experience had left her feeling 'sick with herself' and wondering whether she should have done more to stop what was happening, the court was told.
Peter Glenser, defending, said that Shorter had suffered a mental breakdown brought on by the stress of an upcoming Ofsted report.
He said: 'Some 16 months ago Paul Shorter was a popular, young, charismatic teacher, a rising star. He was the head of the maths department at the school where he taught for just a few short years and he was the subject of schoolgirl crushes.
'She was no doubt impressionable because of her age. Teachers are there to educate our children and they are supposed to resist any temptation they might feel by being emotionally or sexually drawn to their pupils.
'He did not resist that temptation, and now he finds himself here with all that he had ashes around his feet, his life and his career in ruins.
He added: 'It is plain that at the time of these offences this defendant was suffering from a mental disorder. That stress is not the relationship with the complainant.
'It is simply that he is not coping at a school which is seeming to have difficulty with its Ofsted inspection. At the time he was having a nervous breakdown, he was simply failing to cope with the demands that were being made of him.
'There was an excess of demand compared to supply, he was working too hard and too long hours and simply wasn't thinking straight.'
He told the court the brief fling took place between December 13, 2013 and January 19 last year, and that Shorter had fully admitted what he had done in his first police interview.
However, despite pleas to spare his family the effects of a jail sentence, Judge Noel Lucas ruled that justice could only be served by sending the head of maths to prison.
Passing sentence, he said: 'Before all of these offences occurred you were an outstanding teacher. You were appointed as head of mathematics at a secondary school at a very early age.
'You were liked and respected at that school, indeed your mother taught at that school. It is plain that you come from a highly loving and respectable family who were and remain supportive of you, that you are a loving husband and are about to become a father for the first time.
'The department you were head of was affecting the performance of the school and that was affecting you, I accept that.
'However teachers hold a vital role in society, their job is to teach and nurture those who are in their charge at a time when these people are at their most vulnerable.
'Teachers are trusted to guard against crushes of young schoolgirls, what you did was to abuse the trust placed on you.'
He added: 'You knew what you were doing was wrong. It seems to me these are all steps in a process of grooming [the girl] because you enjoyed the company she provided, you enjoyed being with her and your attention towards her made her feel special and grown up.
'She was confused by what you were doing to her. You were abusing a very important position of trust.
'I completely accept that this is was an aberration which will not happen again.'
Shorter, Addlestone, Surrey, admitted two counts of sexual activity with a child and one count of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust.
He was also issued an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
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