Public school teacher jailed for lesbian trysts can still meet victim, 15, on release from prison



Teacher Helen Goddard has been jailed for 15 months for having sex with an underage female pupil

A public school music teacher was yesterday jailed for having a lesbian relationship with a 15-year-old pupil - but told she could continue seeing her when she leaves prison.

A court heard that trumpet mistress Helen Goddard, 26, helped weave a web of lies so the ' vulnerable' girl could stay in her flat overnight, and took her for a weekend in Paris, where they joined a gay pride march.

Judge Anthony Pitts jailed Goddard for 15 months, saying: 'This case is so serious an immediate sentence of imprisonment is inevitable.'

But despite hearing from the girl's parents the devastating effect the five-month sexual relationship had on the teenager, he rejected a prosecution request to ban the teacher from contacting her victim for five years, claiming it would be 'unnecessary, unkind, and cruel to the victim'.

Goddard will be allowed to write to her from prison and will be able to see her in private the moment she is released from jail, probably halfway through her 15-month sentence.



The teacher punched the air in victory when she realised her relationship with the pupil, who is still underage, could continue.



The judge refused to ban Goddard from ever being alone with under-age girls, rejecting another prosecution request.

Goddard, who wept as she was taken to the cells, will have to sign the sex offender register and is banned from teaching children for life.

Her barrister Anthony Heaton-Armstrong claimed that she was 'subjected to a lot of pressure from the child', and added: 'Miss Goddard is quite young for her age.' He insisted the pair continue to 'love each other very much'.

Goddard is a former child prodigy who was one of only six British teenagers to play at the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics in 2000.



She went on to become student union president at Trinity College of Music in London, where she earned her degree.



She is known to have had several boyfriends, including Jonathan Ansell, the tenor who found fame as a member of the operatic 'boy band' G4.

She started work at the victim's £13,000-a-year girls' school in 2006 and ran a lunchtime jazz club, earning her the nickname 'the Jazz Lady'.

The head of music at the London school - which cannot be named for legal reasons - told Southwark Crown Court in a statement: 'The girls all adored her, and would flock to her room at break times.



'I did speak to her about the dangers of being over-friendly and too popular.'



But Goddard, a slim blonde who faced the court in tight blouse, waistcoat and pinstripe trousers, ignored the warning and fast became increasingly close to her victim, one of her trumpet pupils.







The girl, who had been traumatised by her parents' separation several years ago, told police she and her teacher went for coffees together after lessons, and began confiding in each other.



By January of this year, the girl invited the teacher to join her parents dog walking on Hampstead Heath - and then began to visit Goddard's flat in Greenwich with her father's knowledge.

Flirting and text messages followed and in February the pair went for a walk near the school, and kissed for the first time. Days later, they shared a bed at Goddard's flat.



From then on, the girl would stay with her teacher every Friday or Saturday night, telling her parents she was with a schoolfriend.



Ex-boyfriend: Jonathan Ansell was previously in G4

Prosecutor Regina Naughton said: 'Miss Goddard was aware it was the girl's first sexual relationship.' She said the pair used sex toys and handcuffs.

By June Goddard was so brazen that when the girl told her parents she was visiting her older sister in Paris, she in fact stayed in a hotel with her teacher, and joined her on a gay pride march there.



The girl told two fellow pupils about her relationship with the teacher, however, and the school became abuzz with gossip.

In July, 'a concerned parent' sent anonymous emails to the school to report the relationship, and called on the head: 'Please act quickly'.

The parents were informed, police were called - and when the mother tried to track her daughter down, she discovered she was at Goddard's home.

The child admitted everything, but said she loved her teacher.

Analysis of phones showed the girl had sent her teacher 157 texts, while the teacher had sent 60 back, many sexually explicit.

One from Goddard to the child said: 'It's going to be a beautiful day. I love you. You are on my mind all night.'

Goddard refused to answer police questions, but at a hearing last month admitted six specimen counts of sexual activity with a child.



Cases of sexual activity with a child under 13 are deemed to be assault as those so young are held to be incapable of giving consent.



Those over 13 are capable of consenting, but sexual activity with them remains illegal.