Father-of-two assistant head teacher, 37, is jailed for 12 years after he had sex with underage girl pupils in his PE office and told one: ‘I could go to prison for this’
- Sean Aldridge groomed four teenage girls using ‘secret phone’ hid from partner
- One of the 37-year-old’s victims told the court she had a miscarriage in Year 11
- He had sex with them in his office and in woods while his partner was pregnant
An assistant head teacher who had sex with four underage female pupils in his PE office while his partner was pregnant has today been jailed for 12 years.
PE teacher Sean Aldridge groomed the teenage girls, contacting them using a ‘secret phone’ he hid from his partner and driving them to nearby woods for sex in his car.
The 37-year-old met one girl for sex almost every day, ‘at any opportunity’, before she fell pregnant with his child and had a miscarriage in Year 11.
The father-of-two was described as a ‘fantastic’ teacher and a ‘shining light’ at Warblington School, near Havant in Hampshire.
The grooming began in 2007 after he gave a 15-year-old girl his mobile number because she was having ‘problems at home’.
The trial heard Aldridge hid a secret second phone in a jacket pocket in his wardrobe and used his middle name ‘Jack’ as a code name on it.
Two of his victims had the number saved on their phones as ‘Jack Ridge’ to protect his identity.
As he had sex with one of the girls he told her, ‘I could go to prison for this.’
Prosecutor Robert Bryan told the court: ‘They bumped into each other during the summer holidays while he was out with his pregnant partner.
‘Aldridge texted her later that day saying ‘you looked nice’.
‘They continued to text each other throughout the summer, as Aldridge would send texts that the victim described as ‘sweet nothings’.
‘When they returned to school in September, they turned sexual. She would stay late after school so they were alone, and they shared a kiss in the PE office.
‘Their encounters become more sexual before they had sexual intercourse for the first time.
‘The victim said her first sexual encounter was ruined because he kept repeating “I could go to prison for this”.
‘They continued to meet for sex almost every day ‘at any opportunity’, including after her prom at the end of year 11.’
She said she had a miscarriage aged 16, in Year 11, that it had been Aldridge’s child and he had described it as ‘our baby’.
After Aldridge’s first victim left the school he became close to another young girl, aged just 15, and began texting her inappropriately.
He would have sex with her in his PE office and drive her to nearby woodland where they had sex in his car, which had blacked out windows.
He later groomed two more girls at the school, having sexual relationships with them both when they were aged just 14.
He had been reported to the school on one occasion and to police on two occasions after three of the victims told school friends about the sexual encounters.
Each of the investigations failed to find evidence of the relationships, because he would ‘delete all text messages and tell the girls to lie for him’ because the affairs would ‘ruin his child’s life’.
After the investigations, Warblington School even promoted him to assistant headteacher and head of safeguarding.
Aldridge, from Southsea, was found guilty of 24 counts of of sexual activity with a child, and one charge of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity after a three-week trial.
Judge Roger Hetherington jailed Aldridge for 12 years at Portsmouth Crown Court today.
A spokeswoman at Hampshire County Council today said: ‘This individual abused his position of trust, deceiving colleagues and the school community in the process.
‘The jury’s verdict has meant that justice has been served and we hope this will bring some comfort to the victims who were very brave in coming forward and giving evidence, as well as their families.’
A Hampshire police spokesman added: ‘Police previously received two allegations from a third party relating to two of the girls.
‘As part of enquiries, police spoke with both of these girls at the time – the first in 2010 and the second in 2012. Neither of the girls disclosed any criminal allegations to police.’
- Daily Mail
