Forrest 'wants to marry' girl

Paedophile teacher Jeremy Forrest has declared that he wants to marry the schoolgirl he abducted and her father said he would be "proud" to walk her down the aisle.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has written to Forrest's parents telling them that she loves him and plans to visit him in prison.

Forrest's sister Carrie Hanspaul, 33, told the Mail on Sunday that during a prison visit he told his parents: "I love her and we want to get married."

The teenage girl's father told the Sun on Sunday: "It would be a dream for her to settle down and marry the man she loves. She would want to do it all properly.

"I'd be proud to walk my daughter down the aisle with the man she loves. I honestly believe he loves my daughter and she's besotted with him. She has made it clear she wants a future with him. Hopefully with good behaviour he may be freed on parole after a few years.

"If they have a future together that's fine by me and they would have my blessing. I should hate him for what he's done but I don't - in fact, I'd like to meet him. I'd like to visit him in prison, shake his hand and say, 'Thanks for looking after my daughter'. I would be nice to him."

The schoolgirl abducted by paedophile teacher Jeremy Forrest said her "feelings towards him remains the same".

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she had been old enough to make decisions for herself but apologised for fleeing to France with him when she was 15.

She told The Sun: "I would like to make it clear that despite the outcome of the trial, my feelings towards Jeremy remain the same, and regardless of unfair and inaccurate speculation, those feelings will not change.

"I am very sorry to those who have been profoundly affected by the things that I have instigated and the consequences of my actions."

The girl, now 16, thanked her friends and family for their support and for respecting "the decisions that I have made throughout this process, of which they know I was fully capable of making".

Forrest, 30, was jailed for five and a half years yesterday for child abduction and five charges of sexual activity with a child.

Teacher Jeremy Forrest was charged with five counts of sexual activity with a child after he reconsidered his decision to fight extradition proceedings.

The extradition fight previously prevented Forrest from being charged with the offences.

Lewes Crown Court was told that Forrest was originally extradited on the child abduction charge because police only had evidence of this offence at the time he was caught in France.

Police wanted to add the five charges, but had to gain permission from the Bordeaux court that approved the extradition.

Forrest had hoped to rely on the defence that in France the age of consent is 15.

A reporting restriction had prevented any publicity of these matters. This was only lifted when Forrest was charged.

Police have released this mugshot of Jeremy Forrest, the teacher who was today sentenced to five and a half years in prison for the abducting a 15-year-old girl and for sexual offences with a child.

Nigel Pilkington of the Crown Prosecution Service has said he is pleased that Jeremy Forrest was "sentenced for the full extent of his criminality".

He said that the fact that Forrest leaded guilty to the sexual charges against him "thereby sparing his victim and her family from having to go through another trial".

"We hope that,with today’s sentence and the conclusion of legal proceedings, she [the 16-year-old] and herfamily can now move on with their lives," he added.

A spokesman for Sussex Police has said that Jeremy Forrest "grossly abused" the trust placed in him as a teacher.

He said: "He was in a position of responsibility, authority and trust over children in his care - something parents and the wider community expect to be upheld at all costs".

He added that the police investigation was opened "the moment concerns were reported" and did not close until police knew the pupil was safe.

Peter Saunders, chief executive of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said Jeremy Forrest had been handed a "serious sentence".

Jeremy Forrest was due to be sentenced for child abduction today, having been found guilty of that yesterday, but before mitigation he was formally charged with five sexual offences. He pleaded guilty to all five.

In mitigation, his defence counsel said that he was disgusted with himself for lying and ashamed - that what he had done was against his principles.

But the judge said that his behaviour had been motivated by self interest and he chose to ignore the "cardinal rule" of teaching.

Solicitor Henrietta Ronson read a statement on behalf of Jeremy Forrest's family outside Lewes Crown Court after the today's sentencing.

She described the case as a "sorry episode for all concerned" and added that Forrest "is very sorry for his actions".

She also said they hoped that the "failure to properly act on early warnings" about the relationship would be investigated.