A schoolteacher at a prestigious all-girl private school, who enjoyed a six-month lesbian affair with a 15 year-old pupil, even whisking the schoolgirl off to Paris for a romantic weekend, was jailed for 15 months today.
Popular music teacher Helen Goddard, 26, a talented trumpeter who performed at the Sydney Olympics, and nicknamed ‘The Jazz Lady’ by children at the fee-paying school had sex with the pupil during secret trysts.
Goddard, of Thornham Street, Greenwich, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to six sample counts of sexually touching the consenting pupil between February 15 and March 1; February 28 and April 1; March 31 and May 1; April 30 and June 1; May 31 and July 1 and June 30 and July 11.
Her career is in tatters after Judge Anthony Pitts also banned her from working with children for life and ordered her to sign the sex offenders’ register for ten years.
The only good news for tearful Goddard (pictured above) was the Judge’s refusal to ban her from seeing the girl for five years.
“I think it would be draconian and unnecessarily cruel to her as well.”
Police launched an investigation after the £13,000 a year school received a tip-off and when officers raided Goddard’s home they seized various sex toys including vibrators and “fluffy handcuffs”.
The girl's parents condemned the teacher for the “complete betrayal” of trust.
“This is a difficult case. The evidence showed you were having a full-on sexual relationship with the girl for many months,” Judge Pitts told petite Goddard.
“She has made it clear that the sexual contact between you was consensual and she says in her statement that in fact it was instigated by her.
“It is, of course, against the law to engage in sexual activity with a person under 16, even with her consent. These are serious offences in their own right.
"But the particularly aggravating feature evident here of course is that you were her music teacher throughout this period and from well before the sexual relationship started,” added the Judge.
“In this case you clearly knew it was wrong to a start a sexual relationship with her and you knew the dangers to your career as a teacher.
“The relationship involved a fair degree of deception not only in respect of the school, but also to the girl’s parents.
“They made a statement they felt you betrayed their trust. They feel particularly betrayed by the deception of the Paris weekend.
“This case is so serious that an immediate prison sentence is inevitable.”
Goddard grew up in Farnborough, Hants, where she played the trumpet from an early age and was a member of Hampshire County Youth Band.
She was one of only five young musicians from England invited to play at the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony in 2000.
Prosecutor Mrs. Regina Naughton said the affair came to light on July 7 when the school reception received an anonymous email headed “concerned parent” and expressing concerns about a sexual relationship between a teacher and a pupil.
The following day it was followed by another, identifying the defendant and the girl and saying: “Please act quickly.”
Mrs. Naughton said when officers first spoke to the child she denied anything wrong had occurred, but 24 hours later confessed to her mother.
“She said she, the girl, had instigated the relationship and felt guilty for the situation she had put Ms Goddard in and that she wished to continue the relationship.
“She also told her mother she was devastated that Ms Goddard would go to prison.”
“She describes the pair having feelings for one another, and that that was not planned or expected,” added the prosecutor.
“This developed into them flirting with each other and sending text messages to each other.
“They went for a walk one day and she describes kissing Ms Goddard on the lips, which Ms Goddard responded to.”
The youngster also spoke of lying to her parents to stay at the trumpet teacher’s home where they shared a bed and kissed.
Further lies and more overnight stays followed as the relationship developed.
Mrs. Naughton said the pair also had “sexual relations” at her parents’ home.
In June, having declared they “loved each other” the girl told her parents she was going to spend a weekend with a relative in France, the girl and her teacher caught a plane to Paris.
“As part of the weekend, they went to the Gay Pride March,” said Mrs. Naughton.
Later she admitted, “both of them knew what they were doing was legally wrong, but that it felt right”. Since then the matter had “made her miserable and destroyed her”.
The couple’s mobile phones were also seized. They revealed 157 texts from the youngster to her teacher and 60 replies.
“Many of these were of an intimate and affectionate nature, some explicitly sexual.”
One from the teacher read: “It’s gonna be a beautiful day. I love you, you were on my mind all night.”
Goddard’s lawyer Anthony Heaton-Armstrong said his client was now “very remorseful” about what had happened and insisted she was “not in any sense a sexual predator”.
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