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Ex-Soldier Turned Teacher Jailed for 4½ Years for Grooming Pupil

The Norwich court said he exploited a position of trust to target a vulnerable teenager over more than two years.

Overview

  • Simon Taylor, 43, admitted five offences including sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust, two sexual assaults, and two counts of sexual communication with a child.
  • He initiated contact on a school messaging platform at Hethersett Academy, received a written warning, then shifted to email and phone where he sent explicit images and used threats of self-harm to coerce pictures.
  • Offences included touching the victim’s thigh under her skirt at school and groping her breasts in a car both during her time as a pupil and after she left.
  • Judge Andrew Shaw ordered lifetime placement on the Sex Offenders’ Register, a lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order, a restraining order, and a ban on working with children.
  • In a statement read in court, the victim said her childhood was stolen, while the judge acknowledged Taylor’s war injury but found no identifiable link between PTSD and the offending.