Teacher 'had sex with girl pupil'

10:20am Thursday 20th November 2008

A HISTORY teacher ‘took advantage’ of a 14-year-old girl who was infatuated with him, a trial has heard.

Mark Little, aged 28, is alleged to have chatted explicitly to the teenager via computer on MSN instant messenger and exchanged illicit texts with her.

Chester Crown Court heard how the actions of the defendant, of Secker Avenue, Latchford, were discovered when the victim’s friend took a computer memory stick to the head teacher at the Warrington school, which cannot be named for legal reasons.

But the court was told on Tuesday that she had previously lied about having sexual relations with teachers.

Prosecutor Simon Medland said Little often collected the girl – who cannot be named for legal reasons – in his silver Toyota sports car and took her to various locations, including Swithen Hill Wood, Rixton, where he committed a series of sex acts with her.

Mr Medland said: “There is no issue of consent – she was under 16.

“She had a crush but, however much she adored him, it wasn’t right for him to take advantage of her as he did.”

Little taught at the school for just over a year when he was suspended in November 2007.

The relationship came to light when the victim’s friend took a USB stick to the school’s head teacher. Investigators examined Little’s computer and discovered he had deleted most of the memory.

The court heard on Monday that the defendant took the pupil to the Rixton location where they had engaged in sexual activity and disposed of a condom in a bush.

The year nine pupil pointed the area out and police then retrieved a torn condom which was found to identify the defendant, the prosecution claimed.

Mr Medland said the child was taken by Little, who had a fiancée at the time, to what she believed was the home of his friend, Dave, off Loushers Lane.

She only saw one room and gave the court a description which matched that of Little’s room in his house.

She said: “He said if we were meant to be when I was 16, then we would be together because then I would be legal.

“I wanted a proper relationship with him rather than just meeting up now and again.”

Little denies 12 charges of sexual activity with a child under 16 between May and October of last year.

The court heard on Tuesday that the girl admitted suggesting that she had had a sexual experience with a PE teacher, but had been lying.

Later in MSN messenger conversations with a friend she had said that Little had spent the night at her parents’ home while they were on holiday.

When questioned by Mark George, defending, she also admitted that Little had not stopped at her home.

Mr George said that on one occasion, Little was involved in a discussion with pupils about sexual experiences outdoors. He had allegedly told them about a location where he had committed sex acts.

The girl was also questioned on whether she had been involved in the disappearance of Little’s house and car keys, which were found a day later by one of her friends, which she again denied.

“Did you take a copy of these keys, being missing, to look inside Mr Little’s car? The nearest you have got (to the car) is when you put your head through the passenger window that was wound down,” Mr George said.

On Wednesday, a 15-year-old friend of the victim gave evidence. She said Little had taken her into a computer room after she was questioned by a senior member of staff about the rumours around school about the relationship.

She said: “He followed me out and said ‘you don’t know anything’ then he took me to the computer room and said ‘what did you say?’ I told him I didn’t tell anything, and he said ‘good’.”

The teenager said her friend said she loved Little and believed they would be together.

She said: “I knew it was never going to happen she was in a dream world.”

The youngster said her friend said things happened that she didn’t originally confess to.

“I don't know if she is lying, I don’t know what to believe.”

The case continues.