Former teacher jailed for indecent assault on pupil

A former Kidderminster teacher has been jailed for 18 months after having a relationship with a pupil in 1983

A former teacher who worked in Worcestershire has been jailed after he was found guilty of indecent assault of a child under the age of 16.

David Wilkinson, 77, of Le Vigeant, Vienne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, in France, was sentenced at Redditch Magistrates' on Wednesday.

The former Kidderminster teacher received 18 months each for two counts of indecent assault to run consecutively and a further 18 months for a third count to run concurrently.

The counts relate to a former pupil, who he had been in a sexual relationship with when she was 15 and he was 20 years older between March and October 1983.

Addressing the court, his victim said she had been "exploited, groomed and abused" by her teacher in a relationship her mother and brother had condoned.

She also told the court that her relationship with Wilkinson had continued after her 16th birthday, but when it ended, she had been left "utterly devastated".

And it was not until the birth of her children years later that she reflected on the true nature of their relationship.

She said her relationship with Wilkinson had been a "calculated abuse of power".

'Manipulative and abusive'

Judge Seanin Gilmore said Wilkinson had shown a "lack of victim sympathy" after he continued to deny the charges.

In mitigation, defence solicitor Dafydd Huw Enoch argued that there had been "nothing clandestine" in his client's actions because the victim's mother had even allowed the teacher to stay in her daughter's bed.

He said it would be "wholly misplaced" to consider Wilkinson as a predator.

But Judge Gilmore said that Wilkinson had been "manipulative and abusive" and that the victim, who admitted she had wanted a sexual relationship at the time, was not of an age where she could consent.

Her honour also informed the court that the sentence imposed had been limited because she was obliged to follow guidelines set out when the offence took place.

She explained the maximum sentence for indecent assault of a child in 1983 was two years, whereas in 2025 it could stretch to 14 years.