PE teacher Emily Fox jailed for sex with pupil at all-girls public school

A teacher at an all-girls public school has been jailed for 15 months for conducting a secret sexual relationship with a pupil.

Emily Fox, who taught PE at the Royal Masonic School for Girls in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, exchanged hundreds of "sexually explicit" messages with the 15-year-old girl.

The pair struck up a friendship in November 2012 but from Easter 2013 developed an "intense" bond that involved kissing and later sexual touching, a court heard.

The relationship was discovered in August last year when a revealing email was printed out inadvertently and seen by the parents of the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Fox, 26, from Bath, pleaded guilty last month to four counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child while in a position of trust.

Passing sentence, Judge Stephen Gullick said he had no doubt she was a "gifted and well-loved" teacher.

But he said: "In my judgment, you were always aware that the relationship was not only wrong but also unlawful."

He said the sexual relationship lasted three or four months.

He sentenced Fox to concurrent sentences of one month on count one, six months on count two and 15 months on counts three and four.Sally Mealing-McLeod, prosecuting, said contact between the pair began in November 2012.

She said the relationship came to light when the victim tried to print an email but the printer did not work.

The prosecutor said: "A week later the father was using the printer when that particular document was printed. That clearly disclosed some sort of relationship.

Ms Mealing-McLeod said an "abundance" of evidence to support the charges was discovered in WhatsApp messages between the pair.

For example, in July last year, she said, there was "communication of a sexually explicit nature".

"There are hundreds and hundreds of those messages," she added.

Fox, who started working at the school in 2010, was charged after she attended a police station by appointment in September last year.

Dee Connelly, mitigating, said Fox had shown a "degree of bravery" in admitting the offences and felt "remorse and contrition".

Fees at the Royal Masonic School for Girls cost up to £25,000 a year.

The school was founded in 1788 to educate the daughters of Freemasons who were unable to support their families.