David Howard, 47, wooed the teenager with a Valentine’s Day card and letter, expressing he was “becoming besotted” with her and received oral sex from the girl at the school.
He joked with her they may be caught by the cleaner when they secretly met in the cupboard for a five to ten minute “one off”, Woolwich Crown Court was told.
Married father-of-one Howard, of 8 Sun Street, Lewes pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in sexual activity, while in a position of trust between February 13 and June 29, 2002.
He was sentenced to six months imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months, plus thirty days of a Probation Service-ordered rehabilitation activity requirement and must sign the sex offenders register for seven years.
The court heard then-single Howard was in his first teaching job at Crown Woods School, Eltham - since renamed Leigh Stationers Academy - and was only twenty-four years-old.
He was seen in the company of the girl, still wearing her uniform, in the Blackheath area and she reported him to the Deputy Headmaster and another teacher at the time, but nothing happened.
Prosecutor Matthew Dalton said the now 38 year-old victim first reported Howard - who quit teaching for the legal profession - in 2021 and gave a video-recorded statement to police on August 27.
“I received a Valentine’s Day card when I was sixteen years-old,” she told officers.
The card was posted to her family home and was followed by a hand-written A4 letter in which Howard wrote: “I fear I have become besotted by you.”
“The author was her English teacher, who also got on the same train as her when she travelled to school,” said Mr Dalton. “They also spent time together outside school.”
The victim told police: “I gave him a blow job in the stock cupboard, which was at the end of the corridor, on the top floor near the English room.”
Howard sent her further cards, letters, mini-discs and books, including a paperback by notorious sexual libertine Marquis de Sade.
She spent so long on the house phone with Howard her mother asked: “Who are all these calls to,” and said: “That’s the big phone bill.”
The girl also once visited Howard’s flat, but there is no suggestion any sexual activity took place there.
Over ten years later, in 2013 she sent him a letter saying she was now aware he “groomed and abused” her, but Howard did not reply.
Judge Charlotte Welsh told Howard: “You chose to use that girl to make you feel better, which was an extremely cruel thing to do. She was not equipped to deal with your sexual advances.
“It was highly selfish behaviour, a twisted immoral attempt at courtship that was criminal.
“I accept your remorse is genuine, but that is cold comfort to the victim. There is a genuine prospect of rehabilitation and I accept your understanding that what you did was so wrong.”
The victim attended the hearing and read aloud her impact statement, a few metres from Howard. “Predators like him are able to identify vulnerable children like me,” she said.
“The grooming was so powerful that for a decade I was convinced it was a consenting relationship.
“What happened was a badly kept secret. The Deputy Head saw us together, I told another teacher and they did nothing, allowing him to continue to sexually abuse me.”
She quit her own job as a teaching assistant due to the stress of the case and cut herself off from her family and lost a considerable amount of weight.
“I was anxious, agoraphobic, isolated and afraid and fearful in public,” she told the packed courtroom.
“I have nightmares of David Howard chasing and attacking me.
“I have been driven to pour boiling water on my wrists to reduce stress and moved to a home near a railway level crossing, with the intention of ending my life.
“I hope all the teachers feel one tenth of my guilt and shame for not reporting. He told me he was in a relationship with another pupil and I believe he abused others.”
Mr Dalton added: “Howard was flirty with her in the classroom and she describes him as popular and as the “cool teacher” and he would have been twenty-four years-old at the time.
“She says that she had a crush on him and would lie to her parents about where she was when she was with Howard.”
The victim recalled the light-hearted way Howard dealt with the stock cupboard act. “There was a joke about getting caught by the cleaner as it was the end of the school day.”
Howard’s lawyer James Martin told the court his client is now seeing a counsellor, but Judge Welsh noted this only began when he was arrested.
“This was many, many years ago and you are passing sentence on someone who is a different human being,” said the lawyer.
“He is now married with a child and this was his first job and he was immature and teaching children not much younger than himself.
“He accepts it was morally unacceptable and was not aware it was criminal and does not accept that he groomed her.
“What took place in the cupboard was slightly before her exams and it was never a full sexual relationship, just that one off incident in the cupboard as distressing as that may be.
“There were very personal circumstances at the time that I would rather not get into in open court,” said Mr Martin. “He has dealt with a substantial amount of residual guilt for what he has done.
“Some time ago he wrote a letter of remorse and apology to the victim and that letter is in the hands of the Crown Prosecution Service and available if she wants to read it.
“He will have to find a new career now and at his age that in itself is a significant punishment. He moved away from the teaching profession to engage in the world of law.”
Judge Welsh told first-time offender Howard: “By its nature it was abusive at all times. You sent her a Valentine’s Day card and told her you were besotted.
“You spent time together outside of the school, not even surreptitiously and others knew what was going on.
“It took her many years to understand that what you did to her was abuse and I cannot give justice as to how it has impacted her life.
“The people who should have stepped in to stop what was going on did nothing and she is still plainly suffering anxiety and clearly not managing it.
“You tell me you saw your involvement as a genuine relationship, but it was a warped view given that she was a schoolgirl and you were a schoolteacher.
“I am told you acknowledge this now and are disgusted by what you did then.”
The Judge ruled Howard’s behaviour did not amount to grooming, adding: “It must have been a stressful environment in a large London comprehensive and you had a crisis of confidence and mental health difficulties.
“You quit teaching as you were unable to cope.”
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