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British Girl, 15, Thought To Have Run Away To France With Teacher

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British girl, 15, thought to have run away to France with teacher < br />

2012-09-25 02:12:50 GMT+7 (ICT)

EASTBOURNE, ENGLAND (BNO NEWS) -- A 15-year-old British girl is believed to have run away to France with her 30-year-old math teacher, police said on Monday as her parents made an emotional appeal. The girl was described as excited and told her mother she loved her just before she left.

Megan Stammers, 15, was reported missing at 12:30 p.m. local time on Friday after she failed to turn up for class at the Bishop Bell C of E School in Eastbourne, a coastal town in East Sussex, about 83 kilometers (51 miles) southeast of central London. Her math teacher, 30-year-old Jeremy Forrest from Ringmer, also failed to show up.

The schoolgirl had told her parents she was staying with friends the night before, but police now know the pair boarded a ferry from Dover, England to Calais, France at around 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night. Police had initially said the pair boarded the ferry on Friday evening but a spokeswoman clarified the information on Monday.

"They boarded a ferry after 9.30 pm on Thursday night. [Her] family believed she was staying with friends. She was reported missing when she didn't turn up to school the next day," said Jenni Nuttall, a spokeswoman for Sussex Police, when asked why Megan's family did not report her missing until Friday afternoon.

In an emotional appeal on Monday, Danielle Wilson asked her daughter to come home. "Sweetheart, I don't care what you have done or why, but you can tell I'm in pieces and I just want you home," she said. "Please darling, just do anything. Text me, ring me, send me a message. I've sent you a message on Facebook. Just do anything. The phone number hasn't changed at home, so just ring, please, sweetheart."

The pair had tickets to return to England on late Sunday evening but they were not used. "The scheduled ferry and the passenger list were checked but they were not on either," Chief Inspector Jason Tingley said. "We believe the pair may still be in France and we are working with the UK Border Agency, the British Embassy in France and the French authorities in a bid to trace them."

Police are asking anyone in France who has seen a couple matching their description or Forrest's car, a black Ford Fiesta with license plate GJ08 RJO, to contact Sussex Police or local police. Authorities in France are on the lookout for the pair and have issued an alert to all highway patrols, but no sightings have been reported.

It is unclear whether the pair was in a relationship before they left, but Wilson described her daughter as being excited when she last saw her. A blog posted on Forrest's website on May 19 also talked about trying to deal with a "moral dilemma," although he did not refer to Megan or anyone else by name. "It will have to be a bit vague to be public-ally digestible," he wrote.

Wilson, describing the last time she saw Megan, said: "She was going out the door .. and she puts her arms around me and kisses me and that, and she was really excitable, almost like an excitable puppy jumping around, and she grabbed my shoulders and said to me, 'Mom, can you look me in the eye?', and I said, because she was fuzzy, 'Meg, please get off me.' And she said, 'No, mom, look me in the eye,' and I looked her in the eye, and she went, 'I love you', and then she left."

In the May 19 blog post on Forrest's website, he said he had to deal with a "moral dilemma" about a week earlier. "And the overiding (sic) question it left me with was this; How do we, and how should we, define what is right or wrong, acceptable or unacceptable??? I came to a few different conclusions, mainly that actually we get a lot of things wrong, but at the end of the day I was satisfied that if you can look yourself in the mirror and know that, under all the front, that you are a good person, that should have faith in your own judgement."

Police also appealed to Megan during Monday's press conference, asking her to make contact and assuring her she is not in trouble. "We believe that you left of your own accord with Jeremy but we need to hear that you are ok," Tingley said in a message to Megan. "Your family and friends are extremely worried but you are not in any trouble. Please do make contact with us."

Talking directly to Forrest, Tingley said the priority right now is to know that Megan is safe. "My message to Mr Forrest is that this may have not gone as you expected it would," he said. "Right now our priority is to know that Megan is safe and I would ask you to do the right thing and make contact with us. We will work with you to get you both safely back into the country."

Megan is described as white, 5' 6" (1.67 meter) tall, with long straight dark brown hair, blue eyes and was last seen wearing a white vest top and silver chain. Jeremy is of slim build with fuzzy facial hair and mousy brown hair. He wears square glasses, dresses casually and has a black star tattoo on his upper left arm.

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-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-09-25

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simple1 Star Member

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The authorities might want to check the flight schedules to Thailand. A quick stop-over in any of a number of Middle Easter Countries where they can get married and then on to the Land of Smiles to live happily ever after.

Plenty of other destinations:

  • In Southern Asia, 48 per cent (nearly 10 million) of young women were married before the age of 18.
  • In Africa, 42 per cent were married before turning 18.
  • In Latin America and the Caribbean, 29 per cent of young women were married by age 18.

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GentlemanJim Ruby Member

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Do you guys actually think that this pair can just rock up in some other country and get married? That is just not going to happen. They will be returned back to the UK in a matter of days. I am just mystified that with all that is going on in the World that this makes it to 'World News'.

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Chicog Star Member

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Do you guys actually think that this pair can just rock up in some other country and get married? That is just not going to happen. They will be returned back to the UK in a matter of days. I am just mystified that with all that is going on in the World that this makes it to 'World News'.

Because according to Sky News it is the top story in all of the world. Forget all those pesky shellings in Syria, etc.

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folium Platinum Member

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The reason this story is big news in the UK is that while it is highly unlikely that folks from the UK will get caught up in the civil war in Syria, millions of Brits entrust their children to schools and hence teachers every day.

Toe-rags like this math "teacher" are every parent's nightmare. Spare us the "true love" sob stories which are about 1 in a million of teacher-student cases. This sad git, married a year ago, has already committed 2 offences, namely Abuse of a Position of Trust and underage sex (more than likely). The going rate will be a minimum 18 months possibly more if there are aggravating circumstances. If it was "true love" one or either could have moved schools and waited till June next year when she could leave school.

Once he is out of jail he will probably turn up in LOS and blend in with the other "teachers" and fully indulge his predilections.

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GentlemanJim Ruby Member

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Well it's only 25 years ago that this kinda thing was sorta normal in the UK, A song by an ex Teacher based on his own experiences, was probably one of the best/most successful for his band (apart from the fact that this thread has been begging for this song, so we can get off summantics and have a trip down memory lane). I enjoyed finding this song, it led me on to an hour of listening to the Police and Madness......Those were the days! I think after seeing the article in the Telegraph this song was made for the two concerned.

Edited by GentlemanJim
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cloudhopper Platinum Member

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No pressing need to flee it would seem; not if you're in, say, France...

" prosecutor Jean-Philippe Joubert told FRANCE 24 that Stammers and Forrest would not be committing a criminal offence in France simply by being together because she is over the age of consent, which is 15 in France,"

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Scott Star Member

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Regardless of the age of sexual consent, can she be returned to the UK because she is a minor and has left without her parents' permission? Can he be arrested and extradited back to the UK where he has committed a possible illegal act?

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folium Platinum Member

folium

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Regardless of the age of sexual consent, can she be returned to the UK because she is a minor and has left without her parents' permission? Can he be arrested and extradited back to the UK where he has committed a possible illegal act?

A European Arrest Warrant has been issued for toe-rag teacher on suspicion of abducting a minor. Problem with Europe post Schengen is the lack of internal border controls so they could be anywhere now in most of western Europe.

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GentlemanJim Ruby Member

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I am really interested here in the social change that has occurred within the UK and many other places I guess within the western world. Please let me set the stage quite clearly here as I know what some of you are like on here after a few beers. I am interested in SOCIAL change in attitudes and perceptions. I am NOT interested in young girls. Now with that out of the way:-

A main issue here is obviously the Teacher student relationship in terms of trust and abuse of trust, very much like Doctor patient etc. Attitudes to this type of trust have existed as long as I can remember (50 yrs). If you look a few posts above you see I posted a link to a record by the Police. This was only in 1986. In 86 whilst frowned upon this type of thing was 'almost' accepted in UK society. It can't be many years before that when almost without a sneeze we used to read in all the Sunday tabloids how Bill Wyman was hitched up to Mandy Smith whilst she was the tender age of 12-13 and all with her Mothers knowledge and approval. It was in the papers all the time and everyone just thought 'ah well not my cuppa tea but each to their own'. This Teacher has now taken this girl we believe overseas (or maybe the other way around!!) and is now nationally vilified, and at risk of facing very serious criminal charges if it is proved he has done anything with the girl.

When did this change in social attitude take place? Was it sudden or was it a slow change in attitudes and perceptions? For the life of me I cannot pin point it. When I was 17 I remember a girl I knew who was just 16 getting married to a 20 year old guy as she was knocked up. I believe at 16 marriage had to have parental approval. Any genuine discussion points gratefully accepted.

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folium Platinum Member

folium

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I am really interested here in the social change that has occurred within the UK and many other places I guess within the western world. Please let me set the stage quite clearly here as I know what some of you are like on here after a few beers. I am interested in SOCIAL change in attitudes and perceptions. I am NOT interested in young girls. Now with that out of the way:-

A main issue here is obviously the Teacher student relationship in terms of trust and abuse of trust, very much like Doctor patient etc. Attitudes to this type of trust have existed as long as I can remember (50 yrs). If you look a few posts above you see I posted a link to a record by the Police. This was only in 1986. In 86 whilst frowned upon this type of thing was 'almost' accepted in UK society. It can't be many years before that when almost without a sneeze we used to read in all the Sunday tabloids how Bill Wyman was hitched up to Mandy Smith whilst she was the tender age of 12-13 and all with her Mothers knowledge and approval. It was in the papers all the time and everyone just thought 'ah well not my cuppa tea but each to their own'. This Teacher has now taken this girl we believe overseas (or maybe the other way around!!) and is now nationally vilified, and at risk of facing very serious criminal charges if it is proved he has done anything with the girl.

When did this change in social attitude take place? Was it sudden or was it a slow change in attitudes and perceptions? For the life of me I cannot pin point it. When I was 17 I remember a girl I knew who was just 16 getting married to a 20 year old guy as she was knocked up. I believe at 16 marriage had to have parental approval. Any genuine discussion points gratefully accepted.

Firstly the good news is that the pair have been found in Bordeaux and the toe rag teacher has been arrested. (see below)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19756698

JG

re your comments above. You are confusing several very different issues. Neither Bill Wyman nor your friend's partner were teachers nor in a position of responsibility, and that's a fundamentally important point.

Million of children are placed in the care and responsibility of teachers on a daily basis around the world. Being in a position of trust and responsibility carries with it certain restrictions and, IMHO, quite rightly so.

It is an offence in the UK under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for a person over 18 to have a sexual relationship with a child under 18 where that person is in a position of trust in respect of that child, even if the relationship is consensual. That applies where the child is in full-time education and the person works in the same place as the child, even if the person does not teach the child.

Although they are above the age of consent, 16 to 18-year-olds are still deemed vulnerable in law as the child is open to be manipulated, just in terms of feeling beholden to the adult.

All UK teachers are fully aware of this and it is regarded as sacrosanct to be breached at your peril and as this toerag will discover will result in jail time, an end to teaching in any decent school and being relegated to being a "teacher" in certain schools in Thailand.

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