A soldier turned schoolteacher who lost his leg serving in Afghanistan has been jailed after sexually assaulting a girl. Simon Taylor, 43, worked in education after part of his right leg was amputated when his vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in 2009.
The army veteran was a teacher at Hethersett Academy, Norfolk, where he preyed on the teenager who was a pupil at the school. Judge Andrew Shaw, sentencing Taylor at Norwich Crown Court on Tuesday, said: “You groomed her, you manipulated her, you sent her indecent images of your genitalia.”
Isobel Ascherson, prosecuting, said the offending spanned more than two years and continued once the girl had left the school. She said Taylor made the youngster “think that he was the only one who cared or could help her or would help her”.
Norwich Crown Court heard Taylor would message the girl on the school’s messaging platform and this led to him being served a written warning, but the contact continued.
The prosecutor said that married father Taylor, now of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, had “groomed” the girl, adding he “wanted to have sex with (the girl) and wanted to meet outside school”.
She said Taylor had threatened to harm himself if the girl did not send him images, telling the court that in one message he wrote: “I look forward to some fun, as long as we’re both looking for fun, we can just have some fun until you find a nice lad hey”.
The prosecutor said Taylor admitted five offences at an earlier hearing, including to sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust. In one incident he touched the girl’s thigh under her skirt at school.
He also admitted two counts of sexual communication with a child and two counts of sexual assault.
Ms Ascherson said both of the sexual assault counts related to him touching the girl’s breasts, once in a car while the girl was still a pupil at the school and on another occasion in a car after she had left the school.
The girl reported Taylor to the police and also “told his wife what he had done to her”, the court heard.
Reading her victim impact statement in court, the girl said: “My childhood was stolen from me. I never had the chance to be a normal teenager.”
Richard English KC, defending Taylor, said his client “accepts he has caused real and great harm”. He said Taylor “doesn’t seek to blame any of what happened on the injury he sustained” and added that he “received no proper or therapeutic intervention after he was discharged from the Army”.
Mr English said: “It’s clear his mental health may have contributed to what happened.”
Taylor was sentenced to four and a half years. He was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register and will be subject to a lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order as well as a restraining order which prevents him from contacting the girl or her parents. Taylor will also be barred from working with children.
